A Real Hero
by Shade105
Summary: As Judy and Nick take on a case harsher than any they've faced before, and struggle to figure out intricacies of their partnership, they wonder if real, vulnerable heroes can take on a world as big as theirs.
1. Ottermen Lane

**A/N: Heya everyone!**

 **Well, this is my first Zootopia fic, and I can already tell that I am going to have lots of fun with not only this story, but the fandom as a whole. Anyway, please tell me what you guys think. Feedback about the character dev, and my general story telling are is always appreciated.**

 **Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter 1: Ottermen Lane**

Ottermen Lane was a street Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde knew for its high petty crime rate. The narrow roads, shabby apartment buildings, and busy sidewalks plagued with side vendors made the place ideal for minor robbery and pickpocketing. Otterman Lace was also the stage for many trades of illicit nature, which made constant patrolling of this street a must.

On a regular day, Judy -not Nick- would find the energy and high potential of catching a crook in this street a delight -not Nick, who found the area to be far too chaotic-. Today, however was the hottest day of the year thus far, and the sun beating down on them was brutal. The scorching heat that sizzled the sidewalk and large crowds huddle together were not good when combined, not even for the never-deterred rabbit officer, who sipped the last bit of the "Jungle Juice" carton she had just bough moments before and threw the container away in a recycle bin.

At the end of the sidewalk, Nick and Judy looked to both sides of the intersecting street before crossing cautiously. Around them, many walked without a tinge of the attentiveness they had, and some looked annoyed as they were obliged to move around the officers out of fear that challenging them would lead to trouble. Upon reaching the other side of the street, Nick moved to the nearest wall, leaned back against it, and laid his head against the bricks. Opening his mouth, he let out his tongue and started to pant, and while such a behavior was deemed _inapropriate_ of a police officer, what the hell. The group of young weasels coming their way, chuckling at him, could deal with it.

"Tired, big boy?" Judy asked as she also moved up against the wall and leaned upon it. After retrieving his tongue and biting down, Nick swallowed.

"No, just very, VERY hot," Nick remarked, exhausted, as he closed his eyes shut. Opening them and looking down, he noticed that his partner had that buttery smirk she wore whenever she had the idea she was better than him at something. "Come on, Smalls," the fox retorted to her unspoken arrogance. "You're hot too."

"Yes," she bluntly admitted as her amusement teemed to it's limit. "But, as an officer, I must be ready to handle the harshest of conditions." Nick snorted, unamused, as he crossed his arms. Judy, more than happy to tease him, moved in front of him, and poked his chest. This caught Nick's attention, as he fixed his eyes on her. "And you said you could handle Zootopia a lot better than the _poor little farm girl_." Nick looked away, as he tightened the hold of his crossed arms. Smirking, Judy poked him once more, this time on his side. As a result, Officer Wilde hopped from the sudden tickling sensation that shot up his back.

"I was talking about street smarts," Nick hissed. "Not the weather. Heat is hell." Judy giggled as she poked his chest again. This time, Nick Slapped her hand away, and shot his partner bothered eyes. "And could you stop that!" Grinning, his partner moved her paw away. "Besides," Nick said, returning to the subject once Judy had taken a step back. "I'd be a lot better off without this suffocating police uniform." Judy shook her head, clicking her tongue as she did. As two or three animals walked behind Judy, she stepped closer to her fellow officer. Being nearly toe to toe, officer Hopps inspected the fox' uniform with a quick up and down with her eyes -an action that had become more common than not and that Judy had started doing unconsciously. Nick, noticing her action, puckered his lips.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," he remarked. Judy looked up to the officer, and blushed lightly, unaware of what she was doing. Suddenly, she cleared her throat and fixed the knot of her tie.

"Well, you wouldn't have to be wearing your dark blue of your summer uniform were washed," she chastised Officer Wilde, pretending to have ignored his comment. Nick lifted his arms to waist level and open his hands.

"What was I suppose to do, wear a three-day used, smelly uniform?" Nick clamored. "You don't let me in the vehicle if I do."

"And I shouldn't!" Judy retorted teasingly, leaning her face closer to Officer Wilde's, to where their noses almost met. Realizing that Nick face showed slight discomfort with the closeness of their faces, Judy pulled back, and poked his chest again. Nick quickly dropped his look and glared at her again.

"I said stop that!" Nick growled, evoking yet another devilish grin from Judy. "Hell, I'd be better if I could at least remove this vest." As the officer spoke, he started to pick at the Velcro holding his bullet proof vest in place. Immediately, Officer Hopps placed her hand over his.

"Hey!" she called out in a serious tone, obtaining Wilde's attention once more. "This vest is your life. And while your bigger, dumber colleagues don't wear them, I, as your superior, will not tolerate you not wearing it." Nick puckered his lips in response, glaring deeply and his fellow officer. For a moment Judy wondered if she had been too harsh, but then Officer Wilde rolled his eyes, amd dropped his hands to his waist.

"Whatever."

Looking around, Nick made an attempt to distract himself. He noticed cars in the road in front of him, all front to rear, honking at each other for not moving as rapidly as they should. Around them, all sorts of animals walked to and fro. It seemed to Wilde as if each individual was in his own world, talking on their phone, carrying groceries, or thinking to themselves. The only animals that seemed to be truly interacting were the street vendors, that sold pirated movies and pointless nic-nacs; and even so, few heeded them attention. Truly, Nick thought, most of Zootopia's animals were blind to their surroundings. No wonder, he thought on, he could trick them so easily in the past. But he was a police officer now, and his duty was to protect these animals, regardless of how foolish or ignorant of their surroundings they were. He was their eyes and shield. Sighing, Nick looked down to his partner, who still had her eyes on his visage.

"Sure are lots of people to look over," Nick spoke his thoughts out loud. Judy searched into one of her chest pockets, retrieved her sun glasses, and put them on. Turning to face the street, she looked around like his companion, and contemplated the grandness of the task.

"Sure are," Judy replied, taking a deep breath. "But we do this because it is our noble duty." Nick eyed Judy -who proudly held her fist to her chest- with an eye ridge lifted. Lifting his hand, he placed it over her head, and ruffled the fur on her crown.

"Now you're just being melodramatic," Nick teased as he lifted himself up off the wall and began walking down the street. Judy grumbled, as she fixed her head fur, and turned to follow.

"I _hate_ when you do that," Judy complained. And you can only do it because you're taller than me." Snickering, Nick lifted his arms and put his hands behind his head.

"And _that_ is why I do it," Nick replied. Pushed to retort, Judy walked ahead of the fox, and stood right in front of him. Being halted, the fox went to look his partner in the eye, but before he could, he caught a glimpse of a commotion occurring half a block ahead. Looking over his companion's ears, he noticed that a mammal of about his height, wearing a black hooded jacket, was suddenly tugging for the purse of what he thought was a beaver. For a moment it seemed that the two were struggling for the purse like two children, and it oddly seemed comical to the fox, but as the hooded mammal started to tug with greater force, it conflict suddenly seemed rough and violent.

"No! Don't you dare!" the she-beaver screamed just as Judy opened her mouth to chastise her partner. "Help!" Turning in the direction of the screams for help, the rabbit officer spotted the act.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Nick asked, as he slipped past his companion and started to dash towards the crime underway.

"Yup, a 484," Judy hollered as she started to run and caught up to her fox companion. "Petty theft!"

"Call it in," Nick shouted as he turned to look at Officer Hopps., who, as he would have expected, had already turned her radio on and was tugging it up from her uniform to her mouth.

"This is officer Judy Hopps calling in a 484 Near Ottermen Lane and 3," Judy spoke to her police radio. "Approaching the suspect now." As she fixed her communicator back on her uniform, a smile peaked from her visage. The idea of action made her burst with excitement that she tried her best to conceal; however, Officer Wilde knew her well, and as that smile grew, he shook his head.

"As thrilled as always," he muttered as he turned to look at the crime scene in action.

As the hooded mammal succeeded at tearing the purse off his victim's hands, and he made a dash in the direction of the two officers. Suddenly, with his visage their way, officers Hopps and Wilde identified the mammal as an otter; but before the two could reach their suspect, he spotted them heading down the street, gave a look of horror, and turned the opposite way to run.

"Damn, a runner!?" Nick complained as the tight, inflexible seams of his dark blue uniform, and the heat of the day suddenly became more apparent and cumbersome with his dash. Picking up his pace, Nick ran as fast as he could and got moments from catching the otter, but suddenly they reached a clumped crowd of mammals their size, which the suspect began to run among. Shoving some of the mammals onto the ground behind him, the Otter caused mayhem among the group, which began moving more erratically. Hopps and Wilde saw this as no challenge, as they had faced tactics like this before. Jumping into the crowd, Judy and Nick began to move among then with little trouble. Among the masses of mammals, Nick spotted the otter again, and sped ahead of his companion.

"Police! Wait!" Nick shouted, trying to move past as many individuals around him as he could. As if by a streak of bad luck the group the officers were clumped in rushed to the inner side of the walkway, leaving one side of the way clear. Nick felt frantic shoves from his side as he was moved closer to all the bodies around him. Keeping an eye on their suspect -that had nearly gotten to the front end of the group, Nick pushed back against the mammals to his left, making an opening big enough for him to rush out to the clear, which he took with a rapid dash. He reached the clearing, but as he did, horro struck him. An elephant was in front of him, heading his way, and was just about bring his foot down on the fox. Nick jumped out of the way and into the crowd of smaller mammals with all his might, barely dodging the giant foot.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" the Elephant shouted as he looked back to the fox.

"Sorry!" Nick shouted back as he regained his footing and looked ahead for the purse snatching otter. Before the crowd of smaller mammals could retake the whole street, Nick raced ahead of them and made it to the clearing. To his surprise, Officer Judy was ahead of him in hot pursuit of the suspect.

"I said stop, in the name of the law!" Judy shouted, as she pushed further ahead. Upon seeing this, Nick ran as fast as he could, straining his body to catch up to his fellow officer. Suddenly the otter turned right at the corner of the street. Fearing that they would lose his tracks, Judy raced ahead of Nick and turned the street as well.

"Wait up!" Nick shouted as he saw Judy turn the street. Being a whole building and a half away from the cornern, he ran faster when, suddenly, he spotted a small gap between the two buildings he stood between. Coming to a complete halt, Nick's looked down the narrow space. While it was hard to focus -due to the his heavy breath and loud heart beat- Officer Wilde managed to confirm that the opening lead to the street opposite to him where, he hoped, he could cut the otter off. Without time to think, he slipped into the small crevice, making his way across it as best as he could. Looking around, Nick noticed how utterly filthy the walls and the ground below him were: trash, dirt, and gunk covered every bit of the space. Cursing to himself, he thought of having to wash his uniforms again every time he bumped a shoulder against one of the walls or stepped on some unpleasantly soft material. Reaching the end of the alleyway, Nicked jumped out, only to stand face to face with their suspect, who, upon encounter, came to a screeching stop.

For the moment, the two mammals stood facing each other; Nick with his hands up and open, as if blocking the path, and the otter holding the purse. Both panted heavily and showed exhaustion.

"Come on... man... give it up..." Nick started, between heavy breaths. "You can't outrun me and my partner." Just then, Judy reached the street, and came into view from behind the otter, making Nick look up to her momentarily. Taking the distration to make his move the Otter swung his hand to the level of his waist, and drew a firearm and aimed it at the Nick.

Judy, who was a leap shy of reaching the suspect, felt her heart stop as she noticed the action.

 _No…_ she thought to herself.

Jumping with all her might, time suddenly traveled slower than ever before as she noticed every detail around her.

 _The empty, pedestrian free street around them…_

 _The silence of their surroundings..._

 _The Nick looking back to the otter and noticing the gun..._

 _The Officer jolting to his his left in a desperate attempt to evade getting shot…_

 _And suddenly…_

BANG!

The three hit the floor in perfect synchrony as the smell of gunpowder filled the air. Officer Hopps, who had managed to tackle and land on top the otter with such force that she momentarily incapacitated him, suddenly felt lightheaded. Her whole body began to shake as she processed the fact that a shot was fired and that Nick, his partner, was down. Quickly, she worked removing the gun from the suspects hands, unloading it, tossing it aside, and then cuffing the him.

 _No… Nick, no…_

Looking up and ahead from where she sat, Judy noticed that Officer Wilde laid face down, with his feet facing her, motionless. Fearing the worst, Officer Hopps heart sunk, and a desire to vomit came to her. For a moment, she stood still, emotions she had never felt whirling around her. Moment's later, she snapped out of it.

"Nick!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she jumped up. Feeling dizzy, she stumbled towards the fox with a slight wobble, but managed to get to his side and drop to her knees. Momentarily, she forgot her protocol…

 _He's dead_ , she thought despite her urge to push back the thought. Closing her eyes as tears swelled, she thought hard of what she had to do, and after a moment, remembered. With anxiety and shock, she reached for her radio and switched it on.

"Officer Judy Hopps calling in!" she shouted louder than she expected. "We had a 10-71 and an officer is down! We're on 31 and 2 and need medical help immediately!" Before she managed to put her radio back in place, she heard a response, but heeded little attention to it. For a moment, she looked at her downed partner, and hesitated to turn him around. She thought of what she could see, and felt an even greater desire to ball up and cry. Her friend… her partner… the closes thing she had in Zootopia laid still, and it was her fault. If only she had jumped quicker, she thought, as she trembled.

 _Calm down!_ She thought to herself. _He might be okay, stupid._

Convincing herself that the only way she could confirm his status was to turn him over, she began to tug at both of his shoulders; and while she struggled, eventually she managed to do so.

As his back dropped hard against the concrete, every muscle on Nicks body flexed, and his hairs shot up, eacting to severe pain. Opening his eyes wide and dropping his jaw, Nick squeezed a pained grunt out of his mouth. Judy jolt in return, suddenly feeling a blend of alert and relief; emotions that she had never felt so intensely -or simultaneously- before. His partner, and close friend, was hurt, but alive.

As Officer Hopps moved to identify where the bullet had struck her companion, Nick's muscles started to ease, and his breathing was regained. While his whole chest ached terribly, he managed to find a way for him to fill his lungs with air in a manner that didn't make him want to die from the agony. A moment later, Judy noticed a hole in his bullet-proof vest, just below the left pocket.

"Did you know..." Nick suddenly mumbled between his breaths as a thought suddenly struck him through his momentary delusion. "That today marks a year from the day I decided to join the academy?" Judy nodded, acknowledging that she had heard him, but in truth had not known. The statement Nick spoke, while out-of-the-blue, made Officer Hopps realize he was right. It had indeed been at least a year since they met, and his partnering with her occurred. Suddenly, she felt terrible for not having remembered early before.

"I just realized this," Nick continued, still mentally dazed from having been knocked unconscious. Judy peeled the Velcro vest off of him and looked to see if the bullet had gone through. Fortunately, his uniform showed no signs of entry.

"Heh, thinking about it," Nick continued in his delusion, as he looked up to the sky. "It was more like you convincing me than me deciding to join." As Officer Hopps fixed her eyes on Officer Wilde's, he returned the glance. "And I couldn't be happier that you did," Feeling emotions stronger than she had ever felt for any other mammal before, she suddenly lowered her head and began to sob.

Moments later, the ambulance arrived.

 **Please comment.**

 **Thankies!**


	2. Unwanted Eyes

**A/N: Hello again! Here's the second chapter of _A Real Hero,_ but before we continue, I want to say that t** **his chapter was very entertaining to edit, thanks to all the support I got from a group of wonderful people that were willing to beta read for me. Without them, this chapter would not be half as good as it is now.**

 **Here's a special thanks to:**

 **\- tumblr's vetinarini, for not only encouraging me to be more detailed, but for also providing some good feedback for little mistakes I was making.**

 **\- Reddit user** PeterReynoldsV **, for correcting the fluency of my story telling, as well as providing me a corrected excerpt which I partially included in the story.**

 **\- Reddit user** eisbaerBorealis, **f** **or raking through my story to point out little typos I have made, as well as for providing helpful insight on how I could make the story a bit more appealing.**

 **\- John Olsen for providing me his opinion of the chapter.**

 **Thanks guys, you rock!**

 **Enjoy!**

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 **Chapter 2: Unwanted Eyes**

The police and paramedics both arrived to the scene in near-perfect coordination; the police from the east in five cruisers, the paramedics from the west in two ambulances. As the blaring sirens filled the air, and the flashing red and blue emergency lights made it to the scene, Judy lifted the weight of her knee off the suspect, and hopped over to Nick, who was laying with his feet dangling over the ledge of the sidewalk as he bore the tremendous heat of sun the with a hand shielding his eyes.

"Stay there!" the rabbit officer spoke in a commanding voice to the Otter before turning to look at her partner. Upon getting to his side, the officer kneeled, getting Nick to look in her direction with his emerald-hued eyes.

"Nick," Judy spoke softly as she grabbed her partner's hand. "The paramedics are here." Craning his head up, Nick looked about at the emergency vehicles that parked everywhere on the street frantically.

"I can tell," Nick said, laying his head back down cautiously as he looked up to Judy. Thinking of something clever to say, he smirked "The deafening sirens are kind of their big giveaway. It's no surprise so many crooks get away from us." Judy shot a warm smile back. Despite what had just happened, her partner still made desperate attempts to lighten the mood. This eased Judy greatly, as she figured that as long as he tried to be clever, he was okay.

"I'm glad to see you still have your sense of humor," Judy teased as she unconsciously squeezed her partner's paw, and caressed the firmness of his palm. "Though I'd give that remark a C minus." This prompted Nick to chuckle, and he kept doing so until his chest started to ache. As he stopped, he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Judy kept a steady gaze on him, her chest filling with worry.

"I do what I can," Officer Wilde joked through a pained grunt, trying to make it unapparent that he ached. "You can't expect me to be on my best game after being shot, though." He opened his eyes and locked them on Judy's. Gazing deep into the beauty of his eyes, the female officer felt a surge of unexpected emotions rush through her once again. She felt terribly sorry and worried for Nick, but not in the way a colleague would feel for another colleague. Hell, not even in the way she'd feel if one of her old-time friends would get hurt. The emotion was _fuller,_ and she suddenly felt unable to put her feelings in words. For a moment, she fell in a trance, a trance that made the world fade into a haze of thoughts.

 _Do I…?_ she thought, as she stood frozen. Do I…?

"Uhh, Smalls," Nick broke through Officer Hopps' dream world, and made her fall back into reality. Staring down, the rabbit officer noticed her partner kept keen eyes on the paw she held fervently. "If you keep on holding my paw that tightly, it's going to chafe." Immediately, Judy let go, and shot her pawss up to her cheeks. Feeling warmth radiate from her head, she realized she was blushing, and covered herself up even more. This caught Nick's attention.

"You're not going to cry again, are ya?" Nick asked in a teasing voice. Judy dropped her jaw, feeling slight choler as an outcome of his jab to her sensitivity. Opening her mouth, she went to retort, when she heard several car doors get shut around her, and had her attention drawn to them.

"Police! Stand back!" deep, authoritative voices around the two officers shouted as Judy got up off the sidewalk, and took a few steps away from her companion. Quickly, she realized the area was encircled by dozens of bystanders who looked towards the scene behind newly placed police tape. These civilians pushed and tugged at each other as they tried to get the best view not only for themselves, but for their smart phone cameras, which most had up. As Judy wondered how these mammals appeared from the blue, she fixed her eyes on the vehicles surrounding them, and spotted Chief Bogo, alongside many other officers she had become acquainted with. The sight of him aroused great curiosity in Judy, as he would rarely ever leave his office, unless there was a great emergency that needed special attention.

 _Chief Bogo?_ She thought to herself. _What is he doing here?_

While Judy faced the approaching Chief and his team, two sheep paramedics, well groomed and dressed in green medical scrubs, jumped out from the back of ambulance closest with a medical kit each, and raced towards Nick without the bunny officer noticing them. In their quick dash, they reached Officer Wilde without Judy realizing, and dropped their heavy bags on the pavement. These bags made a thump loud enough that Judy jolted and turned in the direction of her partner. The memory of Nick getting shot played in her mind, making her heart start racing. With an overprotective demeanor, she rushed back to her companion with quick feet.

"You're Officer Wilde, correct?" one of the sheep asked as she opened her kit and rummaged through it, retrieving a stethoscope, and sphygmomanometer.

"That's right," Judy rushed to answer for Nick as she approached the trio. Officer Wilde and the paramedics immediately looked up to her in response as she suddenly contemplated not only the apparent intrusion of answering a question meant for Nick, but the anxiety in her voice. "I mean… yes… he _is_ Officer Wilde," she corrected herself, as the unease knotted her guts. Nervously, she fixed her tie. "I'm officer Hopps." The two paramedics smiled at her, but quickly put their focused back on the task at hand. Sighing, Judy dropped her shoulders.

 _Smooth, Judes,_ Judy thought to herself, as the embarrassment started to make her nose tingle. _Acting like a scared bunny…_

Retrieving a large pair of scissors from her kit, the first paramedic scooted herself closer to Officer Wilde and began to untuck his uniform. Once the she had successfully done so, she swiftly slipped the bottom blade of the shears beneath the fabric of his shirt, and began to cut. Judy watched attentively with her gaze on the sheep paramedic's work. As Nick's chest was exposed, the rabbit officer had two feeling rush through her: One was content, that the region where the bullet had struck did not bleed. Two, she felt a tinge of excitement. Nick had, by pure chance or conscious decision, never exposed his chest to his partner. To see it was like peeking at a guarded secret. Suddenly she felt confused, as she wondered why this thought pleased her so.

Nick also looked down at his shirt, despite the fact that craning his head up made his chest ache. As the fabric tore open, he couldn't help but to think he could have just unbuttoned his shirt, sparing the uniform.

"I know they do it on every E.R. and cop show on TV, but was cutting my shirt really necessary?" Nick asked in a joking voice, hiding his momentary remorse for the fabric. The first paramedic -who was observing his chest and muttering words to the other paramedic who wrote on small pad- turned to look towards the officer's face.

"It is, sir," she spoke back to Nick. "I'm sorry." Hearing the apology, Nick realized the point was meaningless, and that he may have accidentally offended the paramedic with his coyness.

"Oh, no, no! I'm not mad," Officer Wilde affirmed as he looked over Judy's shoulder, where Chief Bogo stood. "In fact," he added with a small grin. "You just gave me the perfect excuse to ask for another summer uniform." The Chief, realizing the words were directed at him, shook his head.

"You'll regret getting it when Winter comes around," Bogo said in his booming, deep voice in return to Nick's indirect motion. Judy, not having noticed the huge buffalo stepping up next to her, startled and looked up to the chief. Staring directly at her Boss' strong visage, the thought of both Officer Wilde and Chief Bogo knowing that she was mesmerized by her partner's chest struck her like a sledge to her head. She gulped.

"Chief Bogo!" Judy said in a tone too loud, making her chief raise an eyeridge as he glanced down at her.

"Officer Hopps," he returned the courtesy, as he put his hooves on his belt. Judy, saluting her boss in return, made him focus his eyes on her with more scrutiny, making him realize how comically disheveled she looked, with her shirt half-untucked, the Velcro of her vest not fastened properly, and her sunglasses dangling out her vest pocket. Grunting, Chief Bogo leaned closer to the officer. "You look like a mess."

"Uhh… gee!" Judy gasped nervously, as she noticed the mess that was her uniform. Taking her sunglasses, she put them back in their designated pocket, and then moved to refasten her vest. After doing so, she noticed her shirt, and, following a moment of thought, realized it was better for her to fully untuck than to stick her paws in her pants. And so she untucked, when she suddenly remembered the suspect… the sole reason they were here in the first place… the reason Nick was injured. "Chief Bogo! The suspect!" Judy's boss kept his eyes on her, unstrirred.

"We got him," Bogo clarified, silently amused by Judy's unprecedented erraticism. "Let's worry about your partner right now." Judy, hearing him, sighed and nodded, happy to know that she could worry about Nick without being chastised. Having turned to look back at the fox, she noticed the second paramedic had gone off to retrieve the stretcher from the ambulance, as the first paramedic began to run her paws across Officer Wilde's chest. Judy watched attentively again, her chest lifting as she noticed him cringe.

"So where does it hurt?" the first paramedic asked. As she moved her paws over his left pectoral muscle, Nick's pain worsened, causing him to cringe again.

"Right there!" Nick complained, biting his cheek from the pain. "And a lot!" Putting additional pressure, the paramedic checked the region, which Nick did not like at all. His whole body quivered and his fur hairs stuck up.

"G-gah!" Officer Wilde bellowed. "That hurts, you know!"

"Hmm… I don't feel any fractures," the sheep paramedic commented, seeming to be professionally unaware of the fox's complaint. Upon hearing her words, it felt to Judy as if a weight was lifted from her chest. Taking a step forward, she got on the tip of her toes.

"That's good!" Judy and Nick both said in perfect synchronization, inducing the fox officer to look directly at his partner as he wondered why she was acting differently.

"Jinx?" Nick spoke as a way to verbally nudge Judy for her strange new-found oafishness. Looking up to her visage, he noticed she was blushing.

"However," the paramedic said, regaining the officers' attentions. "We'll have to take you to the hospital to get x-rays. You're lucky you were wearing your vest today, Officer Wilde. A bullet through the area you were hit would have gotten to your heart." With his eyes still fixed on Judy's, Nick suddenly gave a look of thankfulness.

"I know," the fox said suddenly said, reminded of the pain he felt as he took a deep breath. "I guess I'm just doomed to get my butt saved by you constantly." Judy looked down at Nick's eyes, as they locked glances. Processing the words his partner had just spoken, butterflies suddenly filled her stomach.

"I guess," Judy said in a very feminine manner, as she smiled and winked in response to the very odd compliment Nick had spoken. Moments later, the stretcher was brought up by the second paramedic. As it was placed in a low position next to Nick, the fox officer smiled in return.

"You're just too cute," Nick teased, as the paramedics moved to each end of the officer, lifted him up quickly, and set him down on the long mobile bed. To Nick's bad luck, he was placed above in a manner that had a clumped bunch of the stretcher blanket push up against his back. Feeling pain from his chest being ill-aligned, the officer lifted his paw, and went to call for help, but the stretcher was quickly moved and pushed off the ledge of the sidewalk onto the street, causing such a ruckus of the bedding that the clumped blanket became the least of his concerns. As the stretcher strolled away with the second paramedic, the first turned back and faced Chief Bogo and Officer Hopps.

"Since we're dealing with a police officer here, we need one of his colleagues to accompany us to the hospital with him," the first paramedic said, making Judy, who was already terribly enchanted by her partner, look up and back at her boss. In her mind, she was convinced that she had to go.

"Chief Bogo," she said, turning to look at her boss directly. Before she could say any more, Chief Bogo lifted a hoof to interrupt her.

"I assume you wish to take the afternoon off to accompany your partner." he said. Judy looked down, embarrassed to think to she seemed too pleading, and cupped hands.

"If it's not that much of a hassle," Judy replied.

"You go, Officer Hopps," he started. "And I'll catch up with you soon enough." Looking up, Judy felt relieved she was given permission, but also wondered, why her boss was out here, when he had to deal with bigger, more important matters.

"If you don't mind me asking," Judy decided to ask, choosing her words carefully. "Why are out here... dealing with a petty theft like this one." Chief Bogo crossed his arms as he wondered why she was not aware of the obvious answer.

"It isn't every day an unarmed police officer is shot here in Zootopia, especially by a small mammal." Bogo remarked. "Firearms suitable for small animals are very uncommon, and a small mammal committing a petty robbery attempting to injure a law enforcer with a gun seems extreme." Officer Hopps felt foolish for being unable to see the obvious as it was explained to her. Nodding, she tried to push her shame aside, and to seem more intelligible; however, Chief Bogo watched Judy intently, specifically her gaze. He had been in the force for years longer than he wanted to count and he knew that look, he had seen it before.

"Officer Hopps.." the buffalo chief started.

"Yes sir?"

"I take it you DID attend the academy lecture on Fraternization?" he said, looking down at her with a raised eyeridge.

"Uhm, uh, yes...yes sir.." Judy replied, confused at first, then embarrassed,"But it's not like that, sir!" Bogo lifted a hoof up.

"Of course it isn't Hopps, of course it isn't," he said,"But while we do not have a policy that strictly forbids fraternization it can be very dangerous for everybody involved...do keep that in mind." Judy's ears drooped.

"Yes sir..." For a moment, the two stood in silence, until the second paramedic called for Judy. Looking in the direction of the ambulance, she felt her heart skip a beat: This was her way out of feeling awkward in front of her boss. Suddenly, she decided to run towards the ambulance. In the dash, she played Bogo's words in her head, wondering what stirred her more, that he had said them, or how she reacted.

Distracted, Officer Hopps jumped into the back of the ambulance without acknowledging who was with them. Her eyes were immediately focused on her partner, and his bare chest, but as she focused on her surroundings, she noticed that to Nick's left sat a mammal that had not stepped out when they had picked him up. This mammal was a fox, Judy realized immediately; and she was not just any fox, she was exquisitely delicious vixen: Her fur was lush, silky, and a beautiful red, she was well defined, physically, wore white scrubs that fit her like a charm, and had the brightest smile an animal could ask for, which Judy noticed she shot at Nick. As the ambulance door was shut, and the engine put in motion, Judy eyed Nick as he sensually smiled back at this vixen in such a manner that it seemed for a moment that he was no longer in pain.

 _...this hurt..._

"...well," Judy heard the she-fox say as she tuned in to her words. "It's an honor to serve you, Officer Wilde."

"Oh please," Nick interrupted his fellow fox with a smooth voice and a whisk of his paw. "Call me Nick."

"Well, alright!" she replied with a perfectly coquette bop of her shoulders and a laugh a little too annoying for Officer Hopps to bear. "It is an honor to serve you, _Nick_. You being the first fox police officer in Zootopia truly inspired me to finish my degree."

"Aww, you don't mean that," Nick replied in his perfectly acted bashfulness as his ego took a joy ride. The vixen giggled, as she put a paw on his shoulder. Judy, gazing at the two between the hanging ambulance equipment, was not amused. She knew her partner well enough to know he was toying with her, and this bothered her greatly. She could not explain why... but it did.

"I mean it!" She said in a playfully argumentative tone, prompting Judy to roll her eyes. For a moment, she looked away, trying to distract herself with whatever she could. She observed the defibrillator attached to the side, and the oxygen masks shaking as the ambulance raced forward. But as she heard Nick and the Vixen laugh again, she felt the urge to intevene.

"Umm, hi!" Judy called out in hopes of interrupting the two. The she fox looked up with her ever present grin, but the moment she beheld Officer Hopps, she shot her paw to her mouth in awe, seeming as if she stared a ghost down. Judy, already unamused, lifted an eye ridge, confused by her reaction.

"Judy..." the vixen muttered with her mouth covered. "Judy Hopps… _The_ Judy Hopps!" Suddenly, the she-fox rose and carefully made her way over to Judy, wobbling with the car as she approached. Once she had landed on the seat next to hers, she stood silent, gazing at Judy as if she were some kind of relic.

"Yeah!" Nick said in a voice more upbeat than he had back in the street, making her partner shoot an irked glare at him, which he did not notice. "Judy, meet Linda. Linda, meet Judy." The vixen, Linda, hesitated for a moment, before unexpectedly lunging her open paw in Officer Hopps direction. Judy, bewildered by her excitement, took her paw with cautious fingers; but the moment she had Linda's paw fully gripped, the she-fox began shaking hard, jarring Judy's shoulder from the strength.

"Officer Hopps, you being on the news, and… well… doing what you did...!" Linda started in an overly excited voice as she continued to shake her paw. "Is one of the reasons why I decided to head back to school to finish! It… it is truly an honor to be sitting in your presence!" Linda suddenly stopped to take a deep breath, but realized she was still shaking Judy paw. Noticing that the officer winced from the excessive action, she let go, and placed her dainty paws in her lap. It was all too cute, and while Nick found it amusing, Judy did not. "I'm sorry, I really am." she muttered, looking down.

"No, no," Judy said in a tone of struggled kindness. Feeling obliged, she put her paws on the she-fox's knee, and smiled. "It's okay." Linda lifted her head as she heard these words, and the light of excitement was rekindled in her eyes.

"Officer Hopps," Linda spoke again.

"Call me Judy," the Judy offered the courtesy, as had his partner.

"Judy," Linda corrected herself, with another of those overly sweet smiles. "In the world of medicine here in Zootopia, predators are very seldom accepted as doctors, and through my years in grad school, I suffered from great prejudice, to the point where I decided to quit. But then, you showed up in Zootopia, as the first bunny police officer in the ranks, and I saw it on the news." Taking another big breath, she turned to look at Nick, winked, and then looked back to Judy. Officer Hopps, watching her do so, rolled her eyes again. "And well, I saw what you did here in the city and convinced myself I would jump back into school. Half a year later, I had my M.D." Judy smiled, but knew she was faking it. She couldn't feel as happy as she should have for the story she told her, despite the fact that ever since she joined the police ranks, she aspired to inspire. It was one of the reasons she had decided to become a police officer in the first place.

"Well," Judy said bluntly. "Congratulations!"

"And welcome to the club of freaks who dared," Nick added from the stretcher, prompting Linda to turn his way and meet eyes. Standing up, the she-fox made her way back to where she had been sitting, and upon doing so, sat down and placed a paw on Nick's bare shoulder once more. As a sleek smile grew on Nick's visage, Judy suddenly realized why she could not feel as happy for Linda as she did for her partner when he succeeded, and became a police officer himself…

...Love and jealousy...

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	3. Despite Everything

**Chapter 3: Despite Everything**

Judy spent the remainder of the ambulance ride pondering about her sudden epiphany, and about how it was all very perplexing; being in love with a mammal of a different species, being in love with a predator.

For a while, as Nick had a friendly conversation with Linda about his experience as a police officer, Judy tried to lie to herself that her feelings were completely spiritual. She tried to convince herself that she liked him as a soul brother, or a truly close friend; but every time she would glance over to her partner, and secretly take a good look at his bare chest, she would be flooded with undeniable yearning. There was something about his chest that made her covet it. Was it its slim, aesthetic shape? Was it the way it rose and fell every time he took a breath?

And then there was his face; his _god-damned_ face with that coy, pearly smile and those bewitching eyes. The way they looked at her, his eyes, were enough to make her want him…

Yes, her mind whispered insidiously… _want him… Feeling further_ confused, Judy felt the butterflies in her body start flutter around with such violence that they gave her a headache. Sinking her face into her cupped paws, she closed her eyes and tried to void her mind of thoughts.

But before the officer could free herself of thoughts, the ambulance came to a sudden stop as it arrived at the hospital. Hearing a sudden commotion next to her as the paramedics prepared to leave the ambulance, Officer Hopps lifted her head and turned her wondering eyes to Nick. Nick was propped up in a sitting position and was still talking to Linda, wearing a big smile, and making gestures with his paws as he spoke to the vixen. Just as he made one of his remarks, Linda laughed in the kind and bubbly manner Judy had quickly gotten tired of.

"You, my friend," Linda said, between giggles, "are very humorous." With a wistful sigh, and a dreamy gaze from the Vixen, Nick was prompted to chuckle pleasantly. He was feeling much better, and, despite the constant pressure and pain, had managed to be his old charming self. Linda, of course, was half the reason for this. Officer Wilde could not deny she did have a physical charm, and was very pleasant to talk to.

"I think you might be the first person to get my sense of humor," Nick returned, winking an eye at her. Officer Hopps caught this interaction with a quick glance, and suddenly felt sick to her stomach; first in disgust towards Linda and Nick, but later -as the slow seconds passed her mind- in disgust of her own jealousy. It was like her mind was being flooded with envy towards someone she barely knew, just because she could make Nick feel good. It was all extremely childish, Judy thought, shaking her head violently and burrowing her face into her paws again. Nick turned away from the Vixen, and noticed his partners actions. Cocking his head to the side, he wondered to himself why she seemed to be acting so differently. The entire ambulance ride Judy had been silent, and that, to Nick was already strange on its own. She was not too chatty, Nick knew -definitely not as big mouthed as him, he added in thought-, but Judy was not the silent type either. To add to that, she was brooding and seemed conflicted, which Nick also knew she'd avoid as a rule of thumb.

"Are you okay, Judes?" he asked in a soft voice, using that _one nickname_ she loved to hear slip from his mouth -she realized, as his voice made electricity run up her spine. Looking up while keeping her head propped on her paws, her eyes met his, and for a moment, the two contemplated each other. Silence governed as they looked each other in the eye. Nick, trying to read her sullen visage, found it harder a task than ever before; and this bothered him because, normally, it would be quite simple, especially with _Carrots_. What made her act so differently? He asked himself in thought.

Suddenly, the two paramedics scooted past Judy, breaking the visual link she had with Nick as they moved towards the ambulance doors. Tossing them open, the sound of other ambulance sirens and paramedics shouting above these rushed into their vehicle, disrupting all the serenity that was left. Jumping back to reality from her mental world, Judy rose to her feet, and thought of being helpful.

"Is there anything I can do to help right now?" Officer Hopps asked as the second sheep paramedic turned to unfasten the stretcher wheels from their locked position, and the first jumped out of the vehicle. Nick looked to Linda, who shot her eyes up from a paper she had pulled out the moment the ambulance doors were opened.

"Umm, no, I don't think so," Linda said, as she put the paper down on Nick's lap, rose, and slid behind the officer's stretcher. Glancing down, Nick noticed the paper he had on his lap was the report the paramedics had written out. While most of it seemed to be medical jargon, Officer Wilde did notice the report mentioned Judy -"the patient's work colleague" as the document put it- as being "under a lot of stress from the circumstances." This made Nick feel troubled, as he figured it was due to him getting injured. If Nick hated anything, it was being a burden on those he truly cared for.

The second paramedic finished unfastening the stretcher and gave Linda a thumbs up. As the stretcher was pushed out, Judy made eye contact with Nick again, and her yearning for him returned. Linda walked past Judy next, when the officer noticed a small detail about her she had not noticed previously: She kept her tail up, and didn't drag it like her partner. While it seemed more hygienic to do this, Judy didn't like it. Swallowing as she clenched her jaw, she wondered if there was anything about Linda she truly liked.

Soon enough, the stretcher was out in the open, and Judy had followed Linda out of the ambulance. On the outside, she began to look around, getting her bearings. The buildings around were tall, much taller than they were around Ottermen Street. Beyond the emergency room parking and loading area, Judy spotted a narrow street, and a big building behind that. Clearly they were in the back part of a hospital, as normally hospitals in Zootopia, Judy knew, had large plazas in front of them.

"This is Puffington Hospital, right?" Judy asked as she turned to face Linda, who held Nick's paw as she put a medical band around his wrist. Nick, looking over to his partner, grinned as he remembered trying to teach her all the streets of Zootopia one autumn morning. Sure, she had memorized all the streets in the academy, and could tell you what the climate conditions, and traffic would normally be in the area, but she was not quite as good as the fox at getting her bearings. It was only after Nick drove with her across the entire city, making her look at the littlest of details in each district, that she got a lot better at telling where she was right away.

"That's right," Linda said in a matter-of-fact tone. Upon fastening the band, and taking the paper she had placed on Nick, she ordered the two paramedics that had come with them to push the stretcher towards the entrance to the emergency room. As the stretcher was pushed, Judy followed, moving in a pace quick enough as to stay at Nick's side. Around them, paramedics of all species, moved about racing from their ambulances and back as they would leave the stretcher with patients at the entrance for nurses to carry in. Judy noticed patients of all types, big and small, being dragged in, and wondered what sort of incredible coordination they needed to have for the right paramedics and nurses to drag around the right stretcher. Without looking, the bunny officer reached out to grasp onto Nick's stretcher's handle bars, but found herself missing it several times. Finally reaching it, she noticed it was higher than she expected, and as she looked up to Nick, had another troubling thought creep in her mind: Aside the species difference -which was big enough of a problem in itself, she was also noticeably smaller that him.

 _Oh, come on, Judes_ , she thought to herself, brushing the thought aside. _At least he's not an elephant, or a horse._

At the entrance of the emergency room, two nurses -another sheep and a goat, reached their stretcher, and took over for the sheep paramedics as they rushed Nick in. The emergency room was crowded by mammals of all shapes and forms, most of which were relatives of some animal or another that had been brought in. Most sat on long, lime-green leatherette benches set up against the pale blue walls of the room, looking at the clock on the wall, or their smart phones with tired eyes. Others paced back and forth with anxiety on their faces. The ambiance was unsettling for both Nick and Judy, who looked to and fro between the many mammals, wondering what had brought them here.

Racing past this waiting room, they moved into a long corridor with entrances on both sides. Judy, keeping a watchful eye, read the signs above each door: Surgery 1, Surgery 2, X-Rays, and so on. Coming to a total stop, and turning into the room ahead, Judy read "Police Infirmary" above the door. Inside, the room was laid out with three mobile hospital beds, each with its own set of curtains -used for whenever a patient had to be secluded or veiled. A bench, similar to the ones in the general emergency room, was set next to each bed. As he was rolled in, Nick counted the three beds, and noticed that not a single one was occupied. He puckered his lips, as he looked over from Judy to Linda.

"Well," Nick said sarcastically, as he eyed the empty beds again while putting a paw to his chin. "Either today's every other officer's lucky day, or I'm just out of luck." Judy heard her partners words, and was suddenly reminded of Bogo's words about how uncommon it was for an unarmed police officer to be shot. He was right, and Officer Hopps knew the exact numbers: During her years in the academy, she had read that out of every 100 officers, only 1.2 would be injured to the point of needing hospital care, and out of that 1.2, only 30 percent were victims of gun shootings. Thinking back, she remembered she would use this statistic to convince her parents that being a police officer was not truly _that_ dangerous -despite the fact that she DID want to face dangers.

Nick, however, had officially joined that infinitesimally small minority, and realizing this, Judy stopped at the entrance of the room, grabbed her chest and bearing the emotional weight of her feelings towards her colleague, feeling blame for putting him in danger was not something she needed. It was too much, and it made her want to roll up into a ball and cry.

Nick's stretcher was parked next to the bed on the far end of the room, and as the vixen doctor went to take the clipboard attached to the stretcher -containing an empty file for her to fill out for the fox officer, Wilde noticed Judy. Her sullen eyes, lowered ears, and drooped shoulders concerned him, but what really caught his attention was the fact that her nose wiggled uncontrollably. Her nose, he knew, would only move up and down that way whenever she was under great stress. Nick felt terrible, convinced again that he was the cause of his friend, and closest of kin's anxiety. Thinking of clever ways of telling her that he was okay, he opened his mouth, but just before he could speak, Linda stepped into his line of sight.

"Nick?" Linda spoke, as Officer Wilde was forced to focus his eyes on the vixen. "Would you do us the favor of helping us as we lift and put you onto the hospital bed? The paramedics over at the emergency room need their stretchers, and unfortunately, we can't make them wait too long... Sorry." Frozen in place and unmoved by Linda's words, Nick remained mentally focused on Judy and her worry, until, after two or so seconds, Linda had tilted her head to the side, prompting him to react.

"Oh!" he clamored, slightly surprised at himself for being lost in his mind for a moment. "Umm… sure." To the side, the officer noticed the nurses had lowered the handle bars, and were standing at his side ready to lift him up. Placing his paws down on his sides, he pushed up his whole lower body up, and began to scoot to the edge of the stretcher. As he laid down and stiffened his back, the nurses each grabbed him from one end, and jerked him up with such suddenness that his chest tensed up. Each bit of the motion, from being lifted up, to being tossed onto the other bed nearly like a sack of potatoes, hurt tremendously; but, alas, he got on the other bed. "There," he said in a rough voice as he swallowed his pain. Quickly, the nurses took the stretcher and rolled it towards the entrance of the room, approaching Judy at a quick pace. The bunny jumped out the way and rushed into the room with a little dash, giving the nurses the clearing the needed to head out. As they left, Nick propped himself up to into a sitting position. "Does this bed fold up to a sitting position?" he asked the vixen doctor as he struggled to stay up.

"Yeah," Linda said, as she moved closer to him, and then reached down to the controls of the bed. Once she had her paw on the lever that lifted the back piece, she pulled it, making the bed fold until it was comfortable enough for Nick to sit. Officer Wilde sighed with relief as he leaned his head back on the bed, and then looked at Linda.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Linda replied in an amiable manner, as she let go of the controls, and walked around to the lower end of the bed. Reaching into a plastic folder attached to the bed's foot-board, she withdrew several papers, and then returned to Nick's side. "Nick," she started again. "We're going to have to take you to the x-ray room to get you examined for fractured or broken ribs, so how about we go now, so we can hopefully get you out of this hospital quicker." Nick looked over to Judy, and then back to Linda as he made a small smile and nodded.

"Alright," the officer said in a lighter mood. "Let's go find out how broken this old body of mine is." As if on queue, the nurses returned to the room, and silently went to start moving the officer. They strolled him out, and turned to the left, as Linda followed, prompting Judy to go with them. But just as Linda reached the entrance, she turned around on her heels and fixed her eyes on Officer Hopps'. With no one else but the vixen, who stood between herself and Nick, Judy felt a tinge of hostility. She tried quickly to shut it down, however, thinking it was foolish to feel the way she did.

"Yes?" Judy asked as she looked Linda straight in the eyes. Without knowing, the officer began to tap her foot nervously, making a constant thump noise with the action.

"Protocol makes it impossible for me to let you come with us while Nick is being tested," she stated in an apologetic voice, while taking a look down at her bopping foot. "Would it be much of a problem if you stayed here, for just a while? We won't be too long." The tapping of Judy's foot got worse as she started to go faster and bopped her foot on the ceramic floor harder. Suddenly noticing the nervous twitch, she brought herself to a stop, feeling tremendously embarrassed that she behaved the way she did. It was all very foolish of her, she thought.

"No!" Judy suddenly said in a tone of forced cheerfulness. "It's not a problem at allt." More uneasy than ever before, she chuckled, and swung her arm up to her chest before adding "just make sure my buddy is A-okay!" With her eyes still locked on Linda's, and a smile she convinced herself to hold on her face, Judy felt her heart sink from self pity. The she-fox laughed politely.

"Oh, I promise you he'll be alright in my paws," she said, as she put her paws to her collar. "I have got to say, you do care a lot for your partner." The vixen winked at the bunny officer in an exaggerated manner, making Judy, who noticed the action, swallow and give a toothy, nervous grin. After racking her brains for a moment, she figured she had to say something in return.

"Well, yeah… He's been a close friend for a little over a year," Judy remarked as she brought her feet together and cupped her paws. "I'm truly fond of him."

"I bet you are," Linda mused, as she winked again. Turning her sight back to her clipboard, she made herself look busy. "Well, I'll be back with Nick soon, and don't you worry, I'll be _very_ careful with him." With those words said, Linda turned and headed off in Nick's direction, leaving Judy by herself. Alone, the she-rabbit felt her right ear twitch and her left cheek tingle as the emotions and thoughts she had been burying beneath her facade began to emerge and infest her. There was love, and doubt, and annoyance, and anger, and jealousy, and they all danced and intermingled within her, making her feel heavy-footed. Grabbing her vest, she tugged against it, feeling tremendously warm, despite the fact that the room was air-conditioned.

Officer Hopps then looked up at the clock above the entrance of the infirmary, and noted that it was 12:32 p.m. Having the feeling that it would take a while before Nick would be back, she walked over to the nearest bench, and hopped up on it's seat. Sitting with her feet dangling over the side of the bench, she closed here eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath, allowing her chest to rise and fall is a slow, melodic manner. Suddenly she was thinking about Nick, arranging the images, memories, thoughts, and emotions she had in her mind. As she did, she realized how many there were… Nicholas P. Wilde… Her partner… her friend… her love…

She loved him… She loved him despite the confusion… despite the fact that she was a bunny and he was a fox… despite everything. She loved him, and craved his everything…

Judy suddenly looked up to the clock again, and noticed it was 12:54 p.m. Looking back down, she continued to enjoy her sweet surrender, to the point that it was intoxicating. Her cheeks felt numb, and her feet tickled, as the butterflies she had in her flew up and down in synchrony, making her feel sensual. Every time she closed her eyes to blink, she would leave them closed for an additional second as she imagined herself with him holding hands… cuddling… kissing… and much, much more. Her cheeks suddenly felt warmer than the rest of her body, as in her utter bliss, she felt another urge: the urge to tell someone how she felt. It only seemed fair, after all, for her to share the joy. Quickly, the officer reached into her pants pocket, pulled out her smart phone, turned on the screen, unlocked the phone, and clicked on the contacts app. She felt the jitters, as she started swinging her feet in a childish manner while scrolling down the contacts until she got to the one she wanted. It didn't take long before she read the name she was looking for.

BENJAMIN CLAWHAUSER.

Clicking on his name, and then clicking on the option to send him a text message, the screen changed to their chat. Pressing the chat box below, the digital keyboard appeared before her, and she duly went to work.

[JUDY: I have something to tell you… I like someone…]

* * *

 **A/N:** **A Special thanks to:**

 **Those who were involved in the beta reading of this chapter:**

 **\- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for giving me feedback on my writing in general, as well as for giving me some nifty suggestions about how to improve a part of the chapter.**

 **\- Reddit user** **eisbaerBorealis ,** **for his very thorough feedback and suggestions.**

 **\- Johnson Olsen for his awesome suggestion, as well as for giving his opinion about the chapter.**

 **\- DevianArt's** AIMYY, **for giving me very good feedback, alongside offering to provide helpful insight on the workings of emergency response for future chapters.**

 **I'd also like to thank those who have given me their support in one way or another. You guys truly rock.**

 **Please comment.**

 **Thankies!**


	4. In a Girl's Eyes

**Chapter 4: In a Girl's Eyes**

Among the places Nick could agree he seldom visited, hospitals were the first he could think of. The fox had lived a reasonably healthy life, and whenever he felt sick, it was never critical enough that he needed professional help. Sure, having a bad fever was unpleasant, living on his own and having to care for himself, but he was sure every time that he would come out of it well. He was strong that way, he liked to think; besides, the costs of hospital care were a sham, and everyone in Zootopia knew that. Speaking to his old friends, he would constantly say the only business better than him at conning fools out of a good buck were hospitals, and he would add that, with the money he made, he would eventually save up enough to build his own hospital, and become the king of thieves. A king of thieves that would take money from the rich, medium wealthy, and poor, to give to himself.

Remembering these words, as the nurse sent out by Linda to recover his medical records came back with nothing but a list of shots he had received as a child, and a small blue slip from the ZPD station nurse that recorded his blood type the day he joined the ranks, he could not help but to feel simultaneously bemused and ashamed of the mammal he was then.

"Before we get his x-rays, I would like to get blood tests done on him," Nick heard the vixen doctor say from afar to the nurses around her. "That way, we can know how he's doing from a general health perspective before we see anything else." The vixen then turned to Nick, who looked her straight in the eye with a patient stare. Approaching him, she clasped her paws and gave the fox a playful smile.

"You haven't been a good boy, have you Officer Wilde?" she said as she lifted her balled paw with an index finger up. Nick chuckled as he shook his head.

"What do you mean by that?" Nick replied in a tone of feigned exasperation and innocence as he played along with her.

"You," Linda explained, as she pointed to the files she had been holding. "Have not been to a doctor in a long time. Your records have not been updated in years." Nick snickered, as he lifted his paws and shoulders, admitting to guilt.

"What can I say?" Nick joked. "I guess that makes me one of many who just couldn't afford healthcare."

"Well, we need to get a confirmation from your insurance company," Linda started, still smiling at Nick. "However, ZDP officers have very good insurance, and rarely have to pay a dime." Chuckling suddenly, Linda moved a paw to her waist. "So, maybe, you should consider coming back more often, as to keep a tab on your well-being." Nick smiled tenderly at Linda.

"Perhaps I should," the fox officer agreed, before taking a deep breath and leaning his head back.

"Anyway," she said, as she put her thoughts back to her job. "I've decided we'll get your blood tests first, and then do your x-rays. That way, we can know exactly how you're doing health-wise." Officer Wilde nodded in acknowledgment, as Linda closed the file and looked back up. "This means, Nick, that it'll take a little longer to get you treated, and hopefully, out of here." Again, Nick nodded, and as he looked up at the clock in the lobby area of the x-ray department, he noticed it was 1:10 pm.

* * *

As Judy waited for a reply to the message she had sent Clawhauser, the emotional storm of excitement to tell someone how she felt had mellowed to a low rumbling of thunder afar. Suddenly, rather than being ecstatic about unveiling herself to the world, doubt made her ask herself a multitude of questions: Was Clawhauser really the right person to tell? Would he accept the fact that she was in love with a male of a different species? Was everyone else okay with hetero-species love? Still sitting on the bench she had chosen while holding her phone in her paws, she observed the small details of the room -like the paintings of flowers on the walls, and the medical equipment on the nurses' table- while trying to find answers for each of these questions.

Yes, she answered the first of these questions as she looked down at the badge on her vest. Clawhauser was the _only_ mammal she could tell. She had managed to make a good friend out of him throughout her time in the precinct. They both understood the prejudice each faced, and managed to bond this way. In the mornings, she would always greet him, and whenever she had the chance to have a little chit-chat with him, she would. The two also agreed on the little things: like that lavender was a far superior smell to roses, and that Gazelle's latest album _was_ her best. This second thought made her giggle. They both really did like the singer.

She turned to the second question she had in mind as her eyes panned up to the ceiling, and concluded that the answer was also yes. Clawhauser was the last mammal she could ever imagine judging her, and while he might tease her now and then -about little mistakes she would make, and for just being so adorably cute _-_ he would never mean it in an ill manner. Most times, in fact, she was encouraged by the cheetah to raise her voice and be different, which was something he had a hard time doing himself. Time and time again, Clawhauser would mention that if one of them stood out against their prejudice, it would _"be a win for the two of them."_

The third question, however, was a bit trickier, and filled Judy's heart with more anguish than the former two. Judy had read in a Zootopia magazine she used to pick up in the local store by her farm that inter-species romance was complicated; even for citizens of the central district. To start, the number of individuals with inter-species _tendencies_ was little, and to add to this, this minority kept itself extremely secluded, many fearing backlash from their friends and family, as well as from outsiders who found the _orientation_ unnatural.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Judy let these last thoughts simmer in her mind, when another question arose that struck deeper than any other: What if Nick did not feel the same way? Shooting her eyes open, Judy felt slight panic at the thought, and began to pant in distress. Suddenly, she felt the device in her paws vibrate, and immediately the officer jumped off the bench and looked at the lit screen of her phone. It had a notification showing, that read "1 New Message." With eyes steady on it, she read it over and over again, as if she could not understand what she was looking at. Feeling antsy, she lowered her phone and glanced up at the clock above the door again. It read 1:11 p.m.

 _1:11 p.m._ , she thought over and over again while looking at the clock, as if trying to remember the hour forever. When the time changed to 1:12 p.m., she lifted her phone to chest level and looked at it again. The screen, by then, had turned itself off, prompting Judy to have to press the button on the side of phone to turn it back on. Again she read the notification, but with a deep breath, she pressed it, and unlocked her phone. After a moment of waiting as the phone opened Judy's conversation with Clawhauser, the message she had received showed up.

[BENJAMIN: Hold up, little bunny. You're coming in a little too hot…

...YOU LIKE SOMEONE!?]

Judy felt electricity rush up from the bottom of her toes to the tip of her suddenly-perked ears as she read the message. It was exactly the reaction she had expected from her somewhat flamboyant friend, to the point that it was too perfect. She started to pace back and forth within the room, reading the message again and enjoying every word of it. With a toothy smile on her face, she began feeling jittery and light. Out of the blue, another message appeared on her screen.

[BENJAMIN: Judyy! When did this happen!? Tell mee!]

Officer Hopps giggled: Again, the message was perfect… too perfect. Still treading about the entire room aimlessly, she reached up to her cheek with her left paw, and rubbed it as she thought of what to say. There were so many options, yet unfortunately, Judy could only pick one. Thinking of it like a game, she slowly choosing the right words in her mind, imagining how each combination would lead to a different reply from Clawhauser. Lowering her paw from her cheek, she got herself to reply.

[JUDY: Well, it just happened today, a moment ago…]

Sending the message, Judy realized that the excitation was making her knees weak. To add to this, her heart was pumping so quickly and with such rigor that she could very clearly hear it beating in her ears. Turning about from where she stood, she found the bench she had sat on, made a quick dash to it, and jumped up on the seat again. Just as she settled down, another message arrived, which she opened as she scooted her rear back to a comfortable position.

[BENJAMIN: (Gleeeee!) Let me guess. This is your first Zootopian crush?]

Officer Hopps kicked her feet in the air as the jitters continued to filled her. It was indeed her first Zootopian crush, and a very uniquely Zootopian crush it was. For a moment, she looked away from the phone and allowed herself to savor the emotions within her. She felt happy, and uneasy, and crazy and feminine all at the same time. After taking a long breath, and filling her atingled lungs with air, Officer Hopps glanced back down to the phone, and got to answering the cheetah's question.

[JUDY: Yes.]

Having sent the message, she put the phone down on her lap, lifted her paws to her face, and rubbed her eyes. The sensation caused by this action felt pleasant, more pleasant than she thought it should have, actually; and so she continued to rub her eyes, until her phone vibrated between her legs, near her pelvis. Judy, who had managed to prime herself with excitement, sensuality, and desire for Nick, tensed up at the sudden satisfaction the vibration gave her. She clenched her jaw, but then quickly let out a harsh, hushed breath as she looked down at the phone. Judy had never felt anything of that nature before, and it scared her slightly to encounter such a sensation without anticipation. Cradling the phone up from her lap, she unlocked it and read the incoming message.

[BENJAMIN: You dawg!

Okay, okay, so here's the big question… WHO IS IT!?]

A knot formed in Judy's throat as she read the question. The moment of truth was here, she thought to herself. She would have to reveal the truth about her feelings… the truth about Nick. Tensing up again, the bunny officer felt the hairs on her entire pelt rise up and get terribly sensitive. Becoming self aware, she realized her breathing had tightened, her chest rising and falling rapidly with each bit of oxygen she took from the air. Catching the collar of her uniform with her left paw, she pulled it to give herself some air as she read the question again. This was it, she thought again as she put both paws on the phone. This was the moment of truth.

[JUDY: Do you promise you won't judge me?]

Seconds after the message was sent, a reply came in.

[BENJAMIN: I won't, I promise.

But now you REALLY have my attention. PLZ TELL ME WHO IT IS!]

Reading the message sent by Clawhauser, Officer Hopps felt her cheeks get warm. She had delayed answering the question by one text, she noticed; and she had done this on purpose, knowing that the moment she'd say the truth, it would become a _stated_ reality. After she'd unveil her secret, she'd plaster her love to Nick on her face, keeping the colors of her feelings there for everyone to see. Regardless, Judy had already gone too far to go back, and knew that even if she could continue to avoid answering the question, sooner or later, the truth would come out. Paws still on her phone, she spelled out the four letter name, and added a period.

[JUDY: Nick.]

And so Officer Hopps sent the message, closing her eyes as she gave her phone the command. Opening them again, Judy looked at what she had done, and felt as if all the strings in her mind had immediately snapped, and she was tumbling into a deep, yet enthralling unknown. Turning on her side and laying on the bench while keeping a foot suspended, she opened the gate to all her erratic emotions, letting them pile over her with all their weight; and for a while, they remained there, pressing down on her being. A long moment passed, and as the bunny was able to perceive time, she glanced over at the clock. It read 1:30 p.m.

Suddenly, a message arrived, and as the phone in Judy's paws vibrated, a chill as cold as the Arctic raced up the officer's spine. Again, she could not help but to stare at the screen notification long enough for the screen to go black again. She reaching over to the side of the phone, and lit the screen back up before clicking the notification, and put in her password to gain access to the message. As it appeared, she looked away with a sudden jolt of her head, as if not wanting to look at what was written right away; but slowly she turned her head back, and read the text sent by her friend.

[BENJAMIN: Nicholas Piberius Wilde?]

Judy sighed, as she felt her heart palpitate stronger than before. The question seemed pointless: it was more than obvious that Nick was the only _"Nick"_ she knew. Perhaps, she thought, he was in disbelief. Opening the chat keyboard, she answered.

[JUDY: Yep.]

With the message, she found herself feeling the same anxiousness for an answer she had felt seconds before. Too exhausted to want to feel these emotions again, she dropped the palm of her paw on her forehead, covered her eyes, and distracted herself with the name "Nicolas Piberius Wilde." The full name was strange to look at, she thought to herself, as Nick seldom used it; but, somehow, there was something _intimate_ about it. Knowing his full name was some sort of delicious secret that she knew she had to treasure and use sparingly. Lowering her phone to her abdomen, Judy closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Nicolas Piberus Wilde," she whispered, liking the way it flowed out of her mouth. Again she took a deep breath, and said "Nicolas Piberus Wilde..." and as the last syllable of his name slipped from her mouth, her phone reverberated once more. Opening her eyes, she brought her phone to view opened the notification.

[BENJAMIN: …

O…M…G! I can't believe it… JUDY HOPPS HAS A CRUSH ON NICK WILDE!

Gaaaaah!]

Clawhauser's message was, to say the least, a drop of pure, concentrated elation to Judy. Reading the message again, and again with a broad, toothy smile, she felt invincible, and like she could run out of the room she was in, find Nick, and give him the biggest, and most passionate kiss she could. Like a child, she lifted her feet and began to waddle them in the air. As she put them down, another message arrived, which Officer Hopps glanced at hastily.

[BENJAMIN: Judy, my sweet little bunny, you have just made my day.

Oh, and I DEFINITELY DO NOT judge you (If you hadn't noticed yet). People can be happy with anyone they want, same species or not. You go girl!]

Still grinning, Judy typed a reply.

[JUDY: Thanks. I need that kind of support, because, to be very honest, I'm kind of nervous to suddenly find out about my feelings towards him. I didn't know it was possible for me to feel this way... especially towards a guy like Nick.]

As Judy sent the message, she glanced up at the clock on the wall again, and noted that it was 2:00 p.m.

* * *

By 2:00 p.m., Nick had the results to his blood tests -that came out pretty normal-, and had gone through the tedious process of getting a multitude of x-ray scans of his chest with the help of Linda, and a large, very plump elephant radiologist named Helga. As the officer and Linda waited for the x-ray films to be exposed, the two sat in silence. Nick was exhausted. Having to sit on a cold metal table for nearly half an hour took a toll on the Fox's back and shoulder blades as Helga, the large and slow elephant, moved her x-ray machine around him to get a multitude of scans. To add to this, the nurses would constantly have to lift him up and turn him on his side to get more scans, compressing his chest and teasing his hurt abdomen every time they did. By the time they had finished, Nick just wanted to close his eyes and rest.

And so Officer Wilde tried, remaining on his hospital bed as motionless as possible as he kept one open, with a steady eye on the clock that hung on the wall. As he watched it tick, his mind started to drift away, and his body relaxed from head to toe; but just as he was about to fall asleep, Nick thought of Judy. The bunny, he thought to himself as he scooted up to a better sitting position and opened both eyes, had been actingdifferent from the moment they had looked into each others eyes back in the ambulance. The _air_ around her was not quite the same after that point, but Nick could not explain why. As he delved deeper into this thought, he wondered if it had just been a figment of his imagination. It could have been, the fox thought to himself as he puckered his lips and looked down ponderously.

"Nick," Linda's voice suddenly rung in Officer Wilde's ears. Surprised to be dragged out of his thoughts so suddenly, the fox jumped before shooting his glance up at the Vixen, who sat on a hospital bench to his right.

"Yes?" he asked politely, keeping a tab on the thought he had brought to mind. Linda, who stared back at Nick, lifted her right paw to her left shoulder, as she gave a nervous, but delightfully joyful smile.

"If it's okay with you telling me…" she started, looking as if she was speaking out of place. "I was wondering if you could tell me how you and Judy got to know each other. I know, this might be a bit random to ask, but given that the two of you are very… important… I want to know how it all happened." Nick cocked his head to the side, perplexed by Linda's look of guilt, before he chuckled and shook his head.

"It's no problem if I tell you," he said, receiving a sudden look of excitement from the vixen as she leaned forward. Again Nick chuckled, before he straightened his back and cleared his throat. "Well, when I first met Judy, we weren't on the best of terms..."

And so, Nick told the story, working his way around his memories as best he could. While he told most of it accurately and with honesty, he did manage to leave a few things out, like that they had met Mr. Big, or that he was there when they uncovered the truth about Vice-mayor Bellweather, or that Judy had crushed his feelings when she did her press conference. Those details he kept to himself, treasured as memories he knew he could only share with Judy. As he brought his story to an end, he had the sudden realization that Judy lingered in more of his most treasured memories than anyone else.

"Wow," Linda said as she processed the story and it's many intricacies. "You and Judy have a history together that's bigger than I would have imagined." Nick gave a crooked smile, as his mind contemplated Linda's statement. Indeed they were close.

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "We've gone through a lot together." He then chuckled lightly, his chest jumping up and down from the motion, which caused it to ache ever-slightly. "I guess I didn't tell you, but after I joined the academy, she's the one that helped me study for all my tests. I'd meet her every day at the precinct, and steal her away while Bogo wasn't looking." Linda joined in Nick's laughter by chuckling softly herself.

"I imagine he wasn't happy about that?" she asked, shaking her head as she thought of the bison whom she had met in previous occasions, and who she knew was not too happy when things didn't go his way.

"Not by the least," Nick confirmed, leaning his head back and looking up as he continued to chuckle. After a moment or two, the laughter died down, and the two remained in silence. As they did, Nick kept the image of Judy in his mind. It was pleasant to him… It made him feel _right_.

"Without her," the fox officer broke the silence, as he glanced back down at Linda. "I wouldn't be the mammal I am now, and that just makes me think, why? Why would she pick me, out of the blue?" Nick lifted his paws, and put them on the crown of his head. Running his paw through his fur, he took a deep breath, prompting the vixen next to him to wonder if she should tell him what she knew. As Officer Wilde dropped his arms to his side, she convinced herself that she had to.

"She likes you, you know." Linda blurted out, causing Nick to freeze in place, eyes wide and struck like a deer under headlights. For a moment, he was not able to move as he processed the words he had heard. Was that right? He thought to himself. What that truly right?

Then, as if by a bad habit of his, he started to snicker to release the tension. Shaking his head, he looked over to Linda.

"I know she likes me _as a friend_ ," Nick agreed in a light and playful voice, before lifting an eyebrow "But you cannot possibly be telling me she _likes me_ likes me." Linda nodded, returning a tender smile.

"She does," the vixen said. "I can tell." Panic suddenly struck Nick as Linda reaffirmed herself. Staring straight ahead at an undetermined point, the fox blinked repeatedly, unsure of how to feel.

"How?" Nick asked, still looking away. "How can you tell?"

"It's all in a girl's eyes," she replied plainly. "Judy's are always on you, and they always seem to be beckoning for you." Shocked by what he heard, Nick put his paw on the back of his head. As he looked up at the clock, he noticed it was 2:32 p.m.

* * *

It was 2:32 p.m., and Judy had not yet received a message from Clawhauser. By this point, Officer Hopps had already read her own message hundreds of times, and made sure once and again that it had been properly sent. For a while, she felt the urge to re-send the message, as to make sure its intended recipient got it, but quickly realized that if the message she already sent previously got to Clawhauser, sending a second might make her appear too desperate. Despite the fact that her cheetah friend was extremely non-judgmental, Judy definitely did not want that. So she decided to wait, first laying on the bench, then sitting, and finally up on her feet walking around the room. It was shameful, she thought to herself, that she waited for a message with such anticipation. She was a fully grown rabbit, and worked as a law enforcer; behaving the way she did made her feel like one of the many over-dramatic girls she went to school with. It was not like her.

But at 2:34 p.m. -Judy realized due to fact that she was contemplating the clock on the wall, a message was received by her phone. Feeling the vibration of her device in her paws, Officer Hopps felt sudden relief, and anxiety at the same time. Putting her phone in view, she clicked in the notification, and message appeared.

[BENJAMIN: Sorry for the delay! Had to go and get files from the archives for Chief Bogo (Such a dreadful place).

Anyway… haha! Little bunny, have I ever mentioned how cute you are? (Sorrynotsorry for calling you cute) I mean, this is your very first real crush, if I'm not mistaken, and you're afraid because its het? This is Zootopia, TRY EVERYTHING!

P.S: I totally knew you'd be crushing on Nick sooner or later.]

Judy opened her eyes wide as she read the final line of the message. It was not possible, she thought, that anyone could know how she felt before she did. Bringing her the phone closer to her eyes, she read the message with scrutiny, trying to uncover additional information between the lines in vein. Her eyes suddenly hurt, making her lower her phone as she sighed in defeat. She decided the only thing left to do was reply, which she quickly did.

[JUDY: What? How?]

The message was sent, and a few moments later, a reply came. With the conversation still open, Judy merely scrolled down to the new message.

[BENJAMIN: Well, aside from the fact that Nick's looks and personality make him a total VIXEN (And in your case, bunny) EATER, and that he can convince a car to be a plane with his charms alone… It's always been in your eyes, girl. You're always dreamy around him.]

Lowering her phone, the bunny officer felt a chill run down her back. Perhaps it was obvious that she liked him after all, and she was merely blind to it. Thinking back, she had indeed found Nick to be better company than many others she had known before. Whenever she was around him, she would feel alive and full of more energy. He also gave her a drive, and, perhaps, she had become more attached to it than she knew.

Leaning her head back and eyeing the ceiling, Judy thought of what to say to Clawhauser, when her phone vibrated again, but this time to indicate that there was a call. Officer Hopps felt her heart skip a beat as she was snapped out of her inner thoughts and looked to the phone to see who it was. It was Chief Bogo, as indicated by the name that appeared, and the photo of her boss Nick had discreetly taken with her phone on a day he was furious and had made a tremendously monstrous face while he spoke to everyone in the bull pen. Time and time again, Judy would replace the image with a more _respectable_ image of the chief, in fear that if he ever saw the image, he would go berserk; but, somehow, Nick would always manage to get his paws on her phone and put the image back. _Sly Fox…_

"Hello?" Judy spoke as she answered the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Officer Hopps," Chief Bogo's deep voice spoke back from the other side of the line. "It's good that I was able to reach you." Judy opened her mouth with the intent of returning courtesy by telling him that she was also pleased to hear from him, but before she could speak, Bogo hastily continued, saying "tell me, how's Officer Wilde?" This prompted Judy to put a paw on the back of her head as she began to pace around the room.

"Uhh, well," Officer Hopps said nervously as she realized that for the last hour or so, she had not heard a single thing about Nick's well being, and had almost forgotten -so deeply delved into her chat with Clawhauser- why they were in the hospital in the first place. "While he's doing pretty good, he still hasn't come back from getting x-rays done of him. So I'm not _exactly_ sure how he is." Having spoken, Judy had to suffer through a Chief Bogo keeping a long silence, before he audibly sighed.

"Well," the chief spoke with a hint of dissapointment. "In any case, I'm calling to tell you to come back to the PD as soon as you possibly can. This otter you and Officer Wilde caught is a very _interesting_ fellow, to say the least." Stopping in the middle of the room, Officer Hopps put her a paw to her cheek.

"Interesting?" Judy asked in wonderment. "What do you mean by that?" Again, there was silence.

"What I mean..." Chief Bogo said _._ "Is that this otter, whose name is Franklin Longtail, supposedly knows your partner, and is willing to confess his intentions if Officer Wilde's the one to interrogate him."

"Oh… Oh?" Judy remarked as she lifted an eye ridge.

"Precisely my thoughts…" Chief Bogo said in response to her remark. "So, with circumstances as they stand right now, Officer Hopps, I've decided to bring you back to get you to interrogate him. With your professional and personal closeness to Officer Wilde, perhaps you might get this otter to speak." Judy's shoulders dropped at the idea of leaving Nick in the hospital. While she wanted to help with the case, her newfound fondness for her colleague made it harder to just go.

"Okay," Judy was obliged to say to her boss. "But what about Nick?"

"We can manage Officer Wilde's situation later; you don't need to worry about him," Chief Bogo answered with quick and preempted words. "Let me remind you," he added. "That your duty right now is to the law. I'm sure Officer Wilde would understand that." Officer Hopps sighed, as she moved her paw to rest on her forehead.

"Yes sir."

"Well, alright then." Chief Bogo said. "I expect to see you no later than 3:45. Goodbye."

The call ended abruptly, leaving Judy uncomfortable about how conflicted she felt. Before Nick, the bunny officer mused, she imagined that if she had a partner, he or she would come second in her mind before anything regarding a case and catching criminals. In fact, she never imagined investing her time and energy in anyone else in general. Becoming a police officer and then being the best officer she could possibly be was what concerned her in the past; but Nick came along and had _apparently_ changed all of that.

 _Then again_ , she thought to herself as she poked her chin with a finger, Chief Bogo may have been too harsh, and demanding of her. Most officers cared for their partners, and would worry for their well being _even if_ they did not have feelings for them the way Judy had for Nick. Maybe Chief Bogo had stepped out of line by warning her about excessive fraternization, and had only done so because he still had second opinions about her -despite the fact that she and her Boss had very much improved their relations since the first case. This was still a possibility, Judy knew.

But Chief Bogo was, indeed, still chief, and Judy knew that directly challenging his command to return to the department would have no benefits whatsoever. And so Officer Hopps turned around and observed each area of the bench she had sat on to make sure she did not leave anything behind. Looking beneath the bench itself, she noticed that some Junior Officer Badge stickers were scattered on the ground. Judy quickly put her paw on the belt pouch she always stored these stickers in, and realized the button that sealed it was unclipped. Surely this button must have come loose while she was lying on her back, she thought as she sighed and shook her head. _Dumb bunny…_

Quickly, Judy made her way back to the bench, got on all fours, and crawled under the seat to pick up the scattered stickers. Being focused on this task, she was not able to notice Nick, Linda and the nurses return to the room. Nick, who had been brought into the room still sitting on his bed, noticed Judy, and could not help but to smirk when he noticed she had her upper body beneath a bench while her tail and rear were lifted up in the air for anyone to see. Still smiling coyly, Nick whistled.

"Hey, cotton ball butt," Nick called out in a taunting voice, making the suddenly-alerted bunny rabbit lift her head without calculating what was above her, making her crash into a bar beneath the bench's seat. A loud _clank_ noise was produced by the action. "Ouch!" he could not help but to say as Judy scrambled out from beneath the bench, and stumbled up to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Linda asked, also feeling concern for the Officer Hopps. Judy, rubbing her head where it hurt tremendously, chuckled nervously as she tried to feign that she was completely fine.

"Yeah!" She answered as her head got warm from the fine combination of pain and embarrassment that brewed within her. "That was nothing! Nothing at all!"

"Are you sure?" Nick inquired, lifting an eyebrow as he painted disbelief on his face. "We _are_ in a hospital, you know… cracking your head is a little more acceptable here." Judy laughed, almost sarcastically, as Nick's coy _little_ statement, prompting the fox to give her a slick smile in return. Ignoring this, Officer Hopps took a good look at her colleague, and noticed they had finally given him a blue hospital gown to wear. Releasing her head, she placed her paw on her hip.

"So… how did everything go?" she asked, first looking at Nick, and then Linda. The vixen put a paw on Nick's shoulder as the male fox looked at her with a grin. Judy took this unfavorably, feeling slight uneasiness at sight of the motion. For a moment, her nose started to wiggle, but as Nick looked back at her, she buried her feelings.

"Well, fortunately, my ribs aren't broken," Nick explained as he placed a paw on his chest. "A few are just slightly bruised, but ice and a few pain killers can help with that." Hearing his words, Judy felt her heart jump with relief.

"That's good! That's very good," the bunny officer remarked as she put her right paw over her left and began to rub her knuckles. "I'm glad to know that you're okay, Nick." The fox officer smiled tenderly at his partner, mesmerizing her with the toying sexiness of his grin. Looking away, she blushed. He was indeed charming enough to _'convince a car to be a plane,'_ she unwillingly admitted. Damn vixen eater.

"And here I was thinking that you wanted it to be worse so I'd stay longer and you could ask for a cuter, less annoying partner," Nick replied teasingly as he winked, getting Judy to shoot a sharp glare at him.

"Ha, ha," Judy said with evident sarcasm. "Very funny." As Judy crossed her arms, she rested the weight of her body on one leg, and made her hip stick out. "How much longer is it before you're released anyway?" she asked, adding "perhaps, if it is too long from now, I might _actually_ find a more serious partner," with a malicious smirk on her face. Nick chuckled in return, pleased she could fend for herself a lot better than she did when he first met her, long ago.

"Not too long from now," Nick answered Judy's question as he changed his smile from mischievous to tender. "All that's left to do is fill out some paperwork, and I'm off the hook." As Nick spoke, Judy dropped her smile as she realized she had forgotten Bogo's command. Shooting her eyes up to the clock on the wall behind her partner, she realized it was 2:47 p.m. and was behind on time. She bit her lower lip in slight frustration, and started to tap her foot. Nick, noticing this, cocked his head to the side. "Is everything okay?" Judy sighed.

"Chief Bogo wants me to head back to the station, and I'm already running late," Judy explained as Nick kept a steady eye on her face. "You see, this suspect we stopped seems to have some kind of connection with you, and he told Bogo that he'd confess the truth if you'd be the one to interrogate him." Hearing her words, Nick lifted an eye ridge, appearing further bewildered.

"Connection with me?" he asked in disbelief. Looking up to the ceiling for a second, he tried to remember the face of the otter that shot him.

"Yeah," Judy confirmed. "His name is Franklin Longtail." At the mentioning of the name, Nick shot a surprised glance back at Judy. Officer Hopps noticed, and looked askance at him. "Recognize the name?" Without answering Judy, Nick directed his sight to Linda, who had been silently busy with Nick's file while the two spoke.

"I want my release," Nick said as he sat up straight. "Now."

* * *

 **A/N: Want to know how Nick feels about Judy? Well, too bad! Mua ha ha ha!**

 **All kidding aside, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please tell me what you thought.**

 **A special thanks those amazing individuals involved in the beta reading of this chapter:**

 **\- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for pointing out plenty of typos, providing some very dandy suggestions, and giving me feedback on what she thought about the chapter.**

 **\- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for not only being a master detective when looking for mistakes in my writing, but for also providing AMAZING suggestions about how I could improve certain parts of the story.**

 **\- John Olsen, for providing a thorough analysis of the chapter.**

 **\- DeviantArt's AIMYY for her amazing feedback, which I was accidentally a derp enough to partially miss. :(**

 **Please Comment.**

 **Thankies!**


	5. Dumb Fox

**Chapter 5: Dumb Fox**

After Nick began to perceive slight relief from the painkiller Linda had injected him with, the officer sat up straight and turned his whole body to face left. Supporting himself with both arms, he suddenly felt a little dizzy and exceptionally stiff. Nick was not a bed mammal. Ever since his early years, he preferred being up and about doing something or another over staying in the confines of a room resting. Unless he was going to sleep for the night -where he would simply flop on a bed and be in the realm of dreams before he could count a minute- being bed ridden for an extended period of time unnerved him.

With his feet hanging over the side of the bed, Officer Wilde craned his head forward, closed his eyes, and stretched his back as far as his partially numb body allowed. A watchful eye upon him, Judy tensed up at this sight: Her colleague was too fragile at the moment to stretch as briskly as he had. All emergency protocol manuals she had read back in the academy had said as much. Opening her mouth to speak, she meant to tell her partner to be a little more careful with himself; but before she could, Nick cautiously scooted himself to the edge of the bed, and prepared to leap to the ground. This alerted Judy further. The nurses that had been watching over him had gone with Linda to help her fill out the officer's release papers, and were not there to provide any assistance; and, while they had told Nick to remain in bed until they had returned, Judy knew, in the back of her mind, that he would not follow the order. The _damn fox_ was just too stubborn that way. Realizing only she could help him get off the bed and on the floor, she rushed to the side her colleague hung over, put herself in front of him, and, without thinking, put her paws on his knees. Immediately, Officer Wilde shot a glance down to the bunny officer.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Officer Wilde asked, leaning closer to Judy as he lifted an eyebrow. Judy looked up at the fox's visage, and noticed the urgency he had from the moment she had told him the otter suspect's name. Putting her paws down, she took a few steps back.

"I could ask you the same question," she retorted as she put a paw on her hip. "The nurses told you to stay put." Nick rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I'm fine, Carrots," Nick argued, as he looked down at the floor and calculated his maneuver off the bed. "And since it's clear that we're in a hurry, I might as well make myself useful." Judy shook her head in dissaproval, fearing that his rashness would get him hurt. Nick heeded no attention though, and proceeded to scoot off the side of the bed. Suddenly, when the fox's rear was at the very edge of the mattress, he realized there was no easy way off the overly-tall bed, and decided to leap. The fall was not big, but he still managed to land with comical clumsiness on the ceramic, stumbling forward and crashing into Judy. As his weight came down on the rabbit officer, she tried to support him, but miserably failed and fell on her back. Hitting her head the moment she crashed onto the floor, she lost orientation, and her vision blurred for a moment; but as her eyes focused, she noticed Nick was atop her on all fours, with his arms by her head and his legs around her hips. She looked up, and realized how close Nick's face was to hers. In panic, Judy's eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat. She then lifted a knee, in a desperate attempt to scurry away from underneath him, but only managed to rub her thigh against his upper hamstring.

"Nick!" she shouted in disdain as she pushed up on the fox's chest with her paws, trying to distance him from herself. Officer Wilde cringed, his pain levels skyrocketing.

"Ow! Paws, chest!" Officer Wilde bellowed out as he frantically rolled to the side, and managed to successfully get off Judy. On his back, he put a paw to the side of his chest where his ribs hurt again. Clenching his teeth, he turned his head to look at Judy with derision. "That was uncalled for!" he shouted.

Feeling a mixture of frustration and embarrassment brewing within her, Judy clenched her paws, shaping them into fists. She had warned Nick not to jump, but he still did, and so there they were on the floor, laying like fools. She turned towards Nick to belittle and criticize him, when she noticed that her colleague wore a worried, solemn face. This made her lower her guard and soften her face. Perhaps she had gone too far with the way she had reacted, and hurt her colleague, she thought. Reaching out from where she laid, she put a paw on his shoulder. Nick rolled his eyes, and shrugged Judy's paw off his shoulder as he wordlessly struggled up into a sitting position. Judy followed suit immediately, rising and sitting on her calves. Taking one of his paws, she placed it on her lap, successfully catching the officer's attention once again. "I'm sorry, I panicked," she apologized, as a frown grew on her face. Keeping a steady gaze on her, Nick retained his silence for a moment, making the bunny officer feel uneasy. But after a moment's time, he suddenly dropped his shoulders and let out a long sigh.

"No, I'm sorry," Nick said in downbeat voice. "I was the idiot who decided diving from a hospital bed was a good idea." Hearing his words, Judy was taken by surprise. Nick was not one to apologize often, and whenever he did, it was because he truly felt like he had made a mistake. Giving Nick a concerned smile, Officer Hopps squeezed his paw. With his eyes still fixed on her, Nick smiled softly in return. "I guess I'm just tired of being nailed to a bed," he added, apologetically, as Judy put a paw on the back of her head. Frowning, Officer Hopps felt empathy for her colleague fill her heart. Dropping her arm to her side, Officer Hopps realized she needed to cheer him up, and suddenly started to chuckle and shake her head.

"Well, if you keep this up," she started in a joking tone, winking at the officer. "You might be forced to stay on a bed even longer." Nick took a moment, but eventually a grin grew on his face. Winking back at the bunny officer, the fox stuck his tongue out at her in an infantile fashion. Judy snickered in return.

"I'm sure you'd like that," Nick teased. "With me out of the picture, you could pick any other partner you'd like; and maybe that way, he won't be as stubborn." Officer Hopps rolled her eyes. Catching sight of his precious green irises, and his small, sly smile, the bunny felt her heart quake from delight. She was making him feel better, and that was good.

"First," Judy said in a joking voice. "You've already said that one. Find a better repertoire of jokes." Again, Nick stuck his tongue out, getting Officer Hopps to smirk triumphantly. "And in all honesty," she added, inching closer to her partner as she feigned a scowl, getting Nick to purse his lips and lean away from her. "I think you're the right partner for me," Judy said as she suddenly softened her face, appearing tender and sweet. Loosening her grip on Nick's paw, she held it with lovingness instead. Officer Wilde smiled unnervingly, caught unprepared for Judy's switch in tone.

"Heh," Nick chuckled, his chest jumping up from that single audible noise. Noticing this, Judy winked at her partner again.

"You were the right partner when I first decided I wanted you to work with me, and I still think you are today." Nick grinned, as he thought back to that day he finally convinced himself to fill out his application form to become an officer of the law. A pleasant shiver ran down his back as he evoked memories of those days, and remembered the long lines he had to suffer though as he waited to hand this form, and the many questions they asked him the moment the mammal resources committee had told him he was considered a viable candidate. While both were truly a hassle to deal with, he bore with them for Judy. "And well," Judy continued, interrupting his line of thought. "Now it's been a year."

"Yeah, it _has_ been a year," Nick mused, moving his paw to the tip of his chin. Grabbing Nick's paw with both paws again, Judy inched closer to the officer.

"Happy anniversary, Nick," Judy said in a tender tone of voice.

"Heh, thanks," Officer Wilde replied, gazing at his colleague's gentle face. A moment passed, and the two sat in silence, lost in a trance of wordless intimacy. Judy, holding Nick's paw, gently moved her thumbs over his fingers, feeling their furred texture. As she did, the bunny officer began to fear that the longer she continued to hold his paw, the more likely it was that she would estrange her colleague. Nick, however, did not lunge back, or give her a look of bewilderment. Instead, his eyes scanned her face, as if trying to read her like the words on a page. As their eyes locked, Judy felt her butterflies jitter as her face got warm. It seemed, the bunny officer thought, that from this point on, she would not be able to escape her butterflies ever again; not as long as she was around the fox she had found out she liked. Bowing her head, she realized she still had his paw, between hers, on her lap. Feeling slightly ashamed, she suddenly and quickly put his paw down on the floor in front of her. The fox, looking down at his own appendage, appeared to frown ever-so-slightly, before he retreated it back to his own lap. As he did, Judy eyed the action carefully, when she randomly remembered the reason they were on the floor in the first place: Nick had rushed himself after hearing the suspect they held at the police department was an acquaintance of his. Looking up at the clock on the wall -also remembering they were in a hurry- she noticed that it was already 3:08 p.m. She puffed her cheeks… they were going to be late, she thought as she closed her eyes and imagined Chief Bogo's reaction to her not only getting there late, but also defying her boss by waiting for officer Wilde. As she opened her eyes, she sighed, surrendering to the inevitable… She had already committed to waiting for Nick, and there was no going back.

Officer Hopps focused her eyes on Nick's face once more, when she realized her partner looked worried and contemplative again. Cocking her head to the side, she wondered what had upset him again. Perhaps, she assumed, it was Franklin Longtail, the suspect that had riled him up in the first place.

"Hey," Officer Hopps broke the silence that had flooded the room, prompting Nick to look her way, as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah? What's up?" Nick asked, as he tried to bury his concerns beneath an inquisitive face. Judy pursed her lips as she wondered of how she would ask him about Franklin without seeming too intrusive. At last, she figured she had to simply be honest.

"Do you mind telling me why you're in such a hurry to meet our suspect?" Judy inquired, leaning closer to her partner. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too overjoyed to see the guy who shot me," she added, jokingly. Nick eyes shot down as his shoulder dropped, making Officer Hopps fear that she may have hurt his feelings with her last remark. _Stupid!_ She thought to herself. With a moment or two, however, Nick looked back up at Judy.

"Franklin and I became good friends after I decided to leave home to make it on my own," Nick started, a distance growing in his eyes as if he looked back upon memories long in the past. "I was eighteen when I met him. He was only seventeen and lived in an orphanage close to where I set up. After a while, we were pretty good buddies, and did lots of work together. He was the guy I'd always turn to whenever I'd have some _brilliant_ new idea on how to make a good buck." Still mentally distant, Officer Wilde began to chuckle. Putting a paw up to his chest, he grabbed a hold of his gown and he shook his head. "In fact, he was the one that introduced me to Finnick, my colleague you met, and suggested we start the pawpsicle business." Hearing his words, Judy could not help but to slightly drop her jaw and glare at her partner. In return, Nick smeared a malicious smirk on his face, knowing her scowl was not ill-intended. "Anyway," the officer continued. "I stayed his friend until, on his 24th birthday, he decided to team up with Mr. Big and his gang. That's when I lost touch with him because, honestly, I didn't want to work dirtier than I already did." As Nick lowered his eyes to ponder about the story he had told so far, Officer Hopps cocked her head to this side. Curiously enough, hearing that Mr. Big was involved with 'dirty work' did not make sense in her head right away. From what little she knew about him and his family, he seemed nice enough as he was. Sure, his personnel were intimidating, and appeared to have lots of power and wealth, but she had never truly imagined the small shrew being involved in anything _truly_ foul. Then again, Judy thought, he did try to drown them in a pool of freezing water and ice….

Perhaps Nick was onto something. Perhaps, Officer Hopps added in thought, Nick still knew a lot more about Zootopia's underbelly than she did. Realizing this nearly obvious fact, a cold chill ran down Judy's back. Despite the fox's sly, light-hearted demeanor, his knowledge made him intimidating.

"It's been eight years since then," Nick suddenly continued, snapping Judy out of her thoughts. "And now, knowing he was the one that shot me makes me want to go find out why." After Officer Wilde ceased to speak, he let out a long breath. Judy scooted closer to her partner and put a paw on his shoulder, showing him sympathy. The warmth of her paw made Nick feel comforted. Lifting his own paw, he placed it over Judy's.

"You okay, partner?" Judy asked in a low voice, showing all the concern she had for him. Tightening his grip on her paw, he nodded.

"Yeah," Nick replied in mirthful voice. "It helps that I could get that out of my chest." He turned his head to the left to have his face meet hers. As his eyes fell on Judy's, he realized their faces were closer than he had originally imagined they'd be. With less than a foot and a half of distance between each other, Nick could very clearly hear his partner's breathing, and catch a whiff of her breath: It smelled like carrots and sweet berries. With a crooked smile, Nick remained in place, at ease with the closeness. Judy, however, did not feel the same ease; in fact, she felt quite the opposite.

With his face as close as it was, the bunny officer's heart began to beat fast and hard. She started to take deep and uneasy breaths as every bit of her body felt the tingles. Contemplating his face, she noticed every aspect she liked about it, from the softness of his fur, to how his emerald hued eyes would dance playfully as they scanned her. Suddenly, the fox's smile grew as he set his sight on her lips. Greater panic struck Judy, and regardless of her attempts to conceal it with a smile, Nick noticed. The fox, keeping his gaze stead of his colleague, lifted himself and moved slightly closer to the bunny. Their faces were now about a foot and quarter away from each other. "You seem troubled yourself," Nick teased in a tender voice as he forgot Franklin and being shot, lost in that _silly bunny face_ her partner had. "Mind sharing what you're thinking?" Judy breathing became more ragged. With her eyes shaking and her nose wiggling, she thought of how stupid it was for her to tense up just for being close to him, as, many times before, she had been just about as close.

But with the passing of a few seconds, she eased herself, and found comfort in having the luxury of contemplating Nick's face from the distance she was at. A new thought bloomed in her mind: Perhaps, she thought, it was time to tell him how she felt.

 _No_ , she thought to herself rejecting the idea straightaway. _It's too soon_ , she murmured in her mind. But Judy quickly countered her argument -as she normally would- by stating in thought that she might not have the opportunity to speak to him like this again. This was a blatant fallacy, Officer Hopps knew, but she was also stubborn and headstrong:

 _Now's not the right time, Judes. Get a hold of your feelings._

 _But I may as well get this off my chest. If he doesn't like me, fine, if so, then… I guess it's also... fine…_

 _But you just realized you like him! It can wait._

 _Two things. One, am I ever going to have a moment like this again? Perhaps. But two, am I willing to hold this feeling in my chest for longer…_

 _Yes…_

 _Well, I'm doing it either way._

With her nose still wiggling uncontrollably, Judy carefully moved her face closer to Nick's. As she narrowed the distance between herself and Nick, Nick swallowed hard, and felt his chest rise from awe. Remembering Linda's words, he felt his own heart palpitate.

About a foot away in distance, Judy was also able to sense the smell of her partner's breath, it smelled like nothing she had ever smelled before. It was… different. Shaking her head, she forgot about the scent, and locked her eyes on her partner's.

"Actually," Judy said, letting herself sound sweet and sensual, which Nick quickly picked up on. "I do have something to share with you." Nick nodded slowly.

"Yeah?" he asked, when Judy froze. With her breathing still deep and heavy, she felt as if the air had become harder to push out of her lungs. Slowly, she opened her mouth.

"Nick? Judy?" Linda's voice suddenly filled the room, drawing Judy's attention with such force that she burst up to her feet almost immediately. Nick, seeing the bunny officer's sudden bolt to her feet, let out all the air he had in his chest, before he followed suit, rising with more ease and care than his partner had done so with. Facing Linda, he peered at Judy from the corner of his eye, and could tell she was not only trembling, but had a blush that peaked through the insides of her ears and her cheeks. Suddenly, a chill ran down the male officer's back as his own cheeks got warm. To the fox's surprise, he was also embarrassed to get caught while having such a _close_ moment with Judy, and by none other than Linda. This made him smile in self fascination, for he realized this was one of the first times he was legitimately contrite to get caught doing anything.

As the vixen doctor eyed the two officers, she wondered why they had been on the floor, out of view's way, moments before she had arrived. Focusing her eyes ardently on Nick, she managed to catch his attention, and then hinted confusion with a sideways tilt of her head. Catching her cue, Nick simply grinned, and shrugged his shoulders, getting the vixen doctor smiled disdainfully.

"Your release papers have been filled out, Officer Wilde," Linda said in a voice that suggested bemusement towards the curious situation she encountered. Calmly, she approached the two mammals in the room, and standing in front of them on the opposite side of the bed, she took a paper out of the folder she held, and reached out with it. "Here. Just make sure this form is delivered to your department. It makes it clear that you're well enough to keep on working." Nick reached out and grasped the slip of paper from the doctor's paw, while keeping the crooked smile he had put on moments before. Looking down at the form, Officer Wilde feigned to read the scribbles that had been jotted down, pretending to know what he read. All the while, Judy stood as still as a statue, too shocked to speak or react.

"Oh, alright," Nick remarked as he nodded his head, making it seem like he had read the paper. Lifting his sight from the paper, he eyed Linda, who still seemed entertained by the smile the male fox had. "Well, thanks, Linda." The vixen nodded politely, acknowledging his gratitude. Putting both paws on her folder, she brought it up to her chest.

"One last thing," Linda said, as she noticed Nick's hospital gown. "Unfortunately, it's not in our policy to give away our medical gowns as memorabilia."

* * *

As they headed out of police infirmary and made their way to the gift shop in the hospital's main lobby -where Linda promised they would find shirts for Nick to purchase, since he had his previous shirt cut up-, Judy could not imagine ever talking again; the embarrassment she faced moments before was simply too much. It made her feel vulnerable, like she had stood naked in front of Linda and could not change the fact that she had. The bunny officer lowered her head as they walked past entrance after entrance; all the while, she wondered what the vixen had heard before she decided to intercede, and what she assumed they were doing behind the bed and out of view.

The silence Judy held did not live long, however, for her fox companion was too prone to opening his _big yap_ whenever a thought struck his mind, and it was far too difficult to avoid picking up on the conversation.

"You know," Nick started, as he and the bunny reached the end of the corridor they were in, and looked onto an intersecting corridor that ran both to the left and right. Reading the sign that pointed to the left, they confirmed that this direction led to the lobby, and headed that way. "I find it somewhat ridiculous that hospitals have gift shops. I mean, think about it. Doesn't it seem to you like it's just another way for these big enterprises to get more out of everyone's wallets?" Judy shot her glance up to Nick, lifting an eyebrow in the process. Officer Wilde, Judy knew, was a big talker of finances: Something was always a good deal, or too expensive, or a good way to make money. Officer Hopps assumed this was a product of her colleague's life as a con artist, and that he could not help himself. However, sometimes his points seemed a little farfetched.

"Well, sometimes loved ones want to get something for their hospitalized friends or close of kin," Judy remarked, somewhat glad that Nick struck up a conversation that made things _seem_ _normal_ between them. That he did not seem to want to know what she was going to say to him back in the hospital room was a good thing to her. "I don't know about you, but when six of my brothers and I were born, dad had gifts for all of us," Judy added, smiling as she remembered her childhood blankey, with its carrot pattern and flowered trimmings. Her mother still kept it close and dear, she recalled; and would bring it out any time Judy would make her realize how much _her baby girl_ had grown.

As Judy took her mind off her blanket and gave her attention to Nick, she noticed the fox had pursed his lips and looked sour. Lifting an eye brow again, she showed confusion. "You okay, Nick?"

"Yeah," Nick said as he lifted his paw and put it on the back of his head. "You just made me remember _Bimzo, the Elephant Clown;_ a terrifying, porcelain doll my parents gave me when I was born." Nick took a moment to shiver, as he thought back to all the night terrors that figurine would give him. "That thing lived on my nightstand until I was 10, when I was old enough to finally make it go away." Judy burst into laughter, more than entertained by Nick and his remark. Moving closer to her colleague, she threw her elbow in his direction, striking him in the forearm.

"Oh, you cub!" Judy teased mid-laugh, fascinated that she could poke fun at him. Nick, the great, streetwise charlatan was afraid of a clown.

"Hey!" Nick protested, putting a paw where his partner struck him. "I'm not saying I'm afraid of it now!" Chuckling nervously, he added "Still, that clown was scary."

Making it to the hospital's main lobby -an open space that looked like an indoor plaza more than anything else-, both officers began to contemplate the crowd of mammals in the premise. Like in the emergency room, many were on their phones or with friends, relaying information with worry and anxiety on their faces. Others wandered about aimlessly, devoured by their own thoughts and concerns. But in general, the air in this lobby was lighter, and more happiness was painted on the faces of those about.

From where Judy and Nick stood, a female hedgehog embraced her partner -who had just risen from a wheelchair- and planted a large kiss on his forehead. To the right, a family of ferrets raced to meet a couple, and their newborn child. As the two officers started to make their way across the lobby, Judy looked to and fro, catching each of these heart-felt moments through the butterfly net of her mind. To the left, there were two elephants lifting their small child up just to suffocate him in hugs. To the right, a bobcat held the paw of another fellow bobcat, as they smiled reassuringly at each other.

A moment later, they had crossed the lobby and were standing before the gift shop that Linda promised they would find. Judy, who had slowed her pace and had dragged behind Nick, suddenly bumped into her colleague. Glancing up at Nick's face, she saw her partner observing the display window of the gift shop with cunningly disguised -but not indiscernible- dread. Panning her view over to the store, she saw what he had noticed: Porcelain elephant clowns with bright, terrifying smiles. A mischievous smile sprouted from Judy, as she walked in front of the fox officer, and made her way into the gift shop.

"What are you waiting for?" the bunny rabbit said in a devilish manner. "The clowns aren't going to bite." Nick clenched his jaw as he glared at Judy, but before he could think of anything clever to say, his colleague had already entered the store. Sighing and dropping his shoulders, the officer went in himself.

Once inside the store -and away from the unsettling display of clowns-, Nick and Judy went straight to the clerk, and asked her to show them the shirts they had for sale. The clerk -a gazelle no older than 18 with that brand of rebellious apathy that mammals of her age would wear on her face- looked at Nick, noticed his medical gown, chewed on her bubble gum in silence, and then stepped out from behind the counter.

"Follow me," she said in a tone of disinterest, as she walked over to the opposite end of the store. Getting to the racks that hung on the wall, the gazelle searched through the many articles of clothing, looking back at Nick every so often so as to guess his shirt size. Once she got to the right rack, she pointed at it and stepped back. "Here's all we have for folks your size. If you have any questions. You can find me at the counter." And so, she walked away, leaving Judy and Nick to their own devices. Nick, humored by the girls demeanor, chuckled as he shook his head.

"That girl could win a film award for her dramatic performance," Nick remarked as he reached out to the shirts, prompting Judy to chuckle as she began to look through the shirts herself.

Before long, the two officers realized that the rack before them only had two variants on the same decal shirt. Both types were of white fabric, and had blue and pink balloons surrounding the message in the middle of each of the shirt, which read "I'm going to be daddy!" on one and "I'm going to be a mommy!" on the other. As Judy finished raking through the entire rack of shirts appropriate for Nick's size, she pouted her cheeks, clicked her tongue, and turned her head to look at Nick. Officer Wilde, who had also finished, smirked.

"Hey Judes," Officer Wilde said as he took one of the male variants of the shirt out of the rack. "What do you say to both of us wearing one of these. I'm sure we'll turn a few heads at the P.D." Judy glared at her colleague, as she felt her cheeks get warm from a blush.

"Yeah right," Judy said scornfully. "Dumb fox..."

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Judy... She just can't seem to catch a break, right? :P**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **A special thanks to:**

 **\- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for providing A LOT of constructive criticism about the chapter, as well as pointing out a few mistakes a made.**

\- **Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for raking through this chapter for mistakes over and over again, alongside providing some extremely useful feedback in regards to the story itself.**

 **\- John Olsen, for also providing some very handy feedback.**

 **\- DeviantArt's AIMYY, for catching plenty of my typos and mistakes, while also providing constructive criticism about the story.**

 **Seriously, you guys, without you, this story would be a mess. :P**

 **Anyway, Please comment.**

 **Thankies!**


	6. Precinct One

**Chapter 6: Precinct One**

The moment a taxi cab rolled up on the busy pick up and drop off zone in front of the hospital, Judy dashed towards it, waving her paws madly so as to catch the drivers attention. The area, however, being surrounded by all sorts of mammals big and small, gave teensy, easily overlooked bunnies like Officer Hopps a terrible disadvantage when doing this. No matter how quickly she raced, and how wildly she swung her arms about, before long, a buffalo hollered out 'Taxi," lifted an arm high, and beat the rabbit officer to the punch. As the buffalo entered the vehicle, and it drove away, Judy pouted, put her paws to her waist, and started to tap her foot with frustration.

"Dang it," she spoke her very prudent curse. From a slight distance, Nick chuckled sorrily, feeling pity for the rabbit and her desperate attempt. It always seemed that the harder Judy tried, the more sour things would turn out to be.

"Oh Hopps… You silly little bunny," he muttered to himself, before turning to face the pick up zone in hopes of helping his colleague. Doing so, he felt a gentle breeze graze the fur on his face. The day was slowly getting cooler, and that was something the fox officer was more than ready to accept with a smile. He looked further to the west, until his eyes were stabbed by the light of the falling sun. Lifting a paw to his brow, he shielded his sight and looked towards the road where the pick up and drop off zone started, when he suddenly spotted an oncoming taxi cab. Knowing his street-smarts, the officer quickly stepped off the sidewalk with one foot, leaned out as to get in the taxi driver's view, and started to shake his right arm in the air. Quickly, the cougar cab driver noticed the officer, and as he drove up, Nick stepped back and let the car stop in front of him.

"Judy!" he called out at the top of his lungs as he opened the cab door, getting Officer Hopps to look in his direction. Turning towards the fox, she noticed the cab, and let out a deep sigh. Somehow, he always managed to do the little things in Zootopia a lot easier than her, despite the fact that she would put more effort into it, and he would not. Deep in her mind, she knew it would always be this way, despite how long she lived in the city. He was born here, and was shaped by Zootopia since his early years. She figured she may as well take advantage of the fact.

"Wait up!" Judy shouted as she raced towards Nick, managing to get her colleague to stand outside of the taxi a moment longer. Upon reaching the cab, Nick jumped into the back seat, and Judy quickly followed, closing the car door behind her.

"Well, hello!" Nick hollered, as he waved a paw at the cougar that sat on the driving seat, looking back at them from his rear-view mirror. The feline, appearing to be tired from a long day's work, nodded slowly at the fox.

"Hello..." the cat spoke, as Judy eyes rapidly fell on the clock that beamed from the cab's radio: It read 3:27. Realizing how late they were, the bunny officer stood up on the seat, and leaned her body towards the cab driver, getting the cougar driver to look directly at her from the mirror. "Please take us to Zootopia P.D., precinct one, as quickly as you can," Officer Hopps said in a voice of urgency. Keeping his sight steady on her, the cougar grunted.

"Ma'am," he said, in a slow, tired manner. "Please get your feet off the seat, and we'll go." Judy looked down at her own feet, and opened her mouth in awe as she realized what she was doing.

"Oh!" she bellowed in surprise as she jumped down and landed on her rear with a quick motion. "I'm terribly sorry about that. I-it's just that we're in a little bit of a hurry to get back to our department." Smiling nervously, Judy took a hold of her badge, and yanked at it from her vest as she tried to display it to their driver. "See… we're officers of the law." Keeping an eye on her, Nick slapped his forehead, unable to believe how silly she could make herself out to be. Ignoring him, Judy noticed the cougar driver lift his glance back up to the rear view mirror again with an unamused look.

"Interesting," he said in a manner that told Judy he _clearly_ did not care. Dropping her paw from her badge, Officer Hopps looked down, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Nice, Carrots," Nick teased in a whisper soft enough as to not have their driver hear them. "At least he now knows that if he doesn't drive us quick enough, the _law_ might come down on him." Judy shot a scornful scowl at the officer as a result of his _funny little_ comment. As she gazed at him, she realized how spectacularly ludicrous he looked wearing his recently purchased "I'm going to be a daddy" shirt inside out -with the hems and needlework showing-, and could not help but to feel further irritated. Glancing up to his face, she observed the toothy, sly smile he wore, and, feeling insatiably attracted to him, huffed angrily and she looked away towards the opposite window. And so, for the remainder of the ride, Judy sat in silence, doing all she could to keep her eyes off the fox she knew was glancing at her. Staring out the window, she saw street after street go by, and to keep herself distracted, she attempted to remember the names of as many roads, shops, and restaurants as she could. She made this a mental drill, convincing herself that it would help her with her police work, _and would keep her mind off the jokester fox and his… sexy… smile_. By the time the cab arrived to the open plaza in front of Z.P.D. precinct one, the officer had identified 214 places and streets she knew by name -she kept count.

Just as the taxi car came to a sudden stop, the cougar driver turned half his body, looked back at Judy, and stuck his paw out in her direction.

"That'll be 14.25," the driver said, prompting the bunny officer to look his way. Having distracted herself for such a long time had made her forget she was even riding a cab she had to pay for.

"Oh!" she called out yet again, as she cleared her mind and thought of paying the driver. "Umm, sure." Reaching into her pocket, Judy tried to draw out the wad of cash she had crumpled up in her pants early on in the day after paying for the jungle juice she got in Otterman Lane; but before she could, Nick managed to take out a nice, crisp-looking 20 from his pocket, and handed it to the driver. As the driver took the cash, and went to retrieve the fox's change, Judy's turned her attention to her partner. It was Judy who had convinced Nick that they needed to get a taxi cab, instead of radioing the P.D. to ask for a pickup. She had argued it was the fastest way to get back to Precinct One, and that they _absolutely_ needed to be there as soon as possible; as a result, she assumed she would take the responsibility of paying for the trip. "You didn't have to do that Nick, I could have covered it," she remarked, as she retreated her paw from her pocket. Nick smiled, as he eyed Judy with a tender look.

"Well, you were kind enough to accompany me to the hospital, which is something I know you weren't _technically_ obliged to do," Nick replied in a gentle, welcoming voice. "And to add to that, you waited until I got released to head back with me. It's the least I can do." Judy blushed, craning her head down. To her, accompanying Nick WAS an obligation, even before she realized that she liked him. Officer Wilde was the one thing she held closest to her in Zootopia, and that was truer at this moment than it was any time before. Nick, however, showed his generosity -as he very often did-, and that made him seem more attractive.

But just as Judy thought of jumping into his lap and covering his entire face with kisses, the cougar driver turned back towards Nick and handed him his change. Smirking mischievously, Officer Wilde gestured towards Judy's door, that faced the plaza.

"After you," he spoke to Judy, before looking over to their cougar driver and adding "Oh, and sir? Miss _Officer of the law_ and I would like to thank you for the ride." Quickly, Judy glared at Nick, before hastily turning and reaching for the door handle. Opening the door, she jumped out, and turned and wait for Nick, while still appearing to be unamused. The fox slid out to the exit with slick grace as he snickered impishly.

"Dumb fox..." she remarked, getting Nick to chuckle coyly as a result.

"Who, me?" he teased, as he walked past Judy and flicked his tail near her face. Having dodged the tremendous amount of fluff that was her colleague's tail, she shook her head as a crooked smile grew on her visage.

 _You coy little devil..._ she thought to herself, picking up her pace in order to catch up to Nick. As the cab drove away, both officers hustled through the plaza towards the police department. On a weekday like this, young adults and parents alike would busy themselves with work during the day, but would head out to enjoy Zootopia's public parks and plazas in the afternoons. Being that most mammals ended their day's work shift no less than an hour before, Friendship Plaza -the plaza in front of the police department-, was starting to get crowded. As Nick and Judy hurried past the many fountains, ponds, and open patches of grass in the plaza, they saw large and small families alike, letting their children run free, while the teens and young adults around gathered near the "coolest" places in to "chill." About them, both officers could hear laughter, friendly conversation, and general merriment, all terrible temptations that beckoned them to slow down and enjoy the end of the day. To make matters worse, Judy and Nick walked by a food Kiosk with a sign that read "Nutty Nutters." Making their way past this stall, the scent of freshly honey-roasted nuts _assaulted_ their noses, and made their stomachs quake with hunger. They had not had food all day, Nick's stomach brutally reminded him as he turned to look at the kiosk, and the line of smiling folks around it. Except for the doughnut and coffee Clawhauser had offered them just before they went on patrol, he and Judy had eaten next to nothing.

"Boy, that smells good," Nick remarked, as they moved on, and went towards the precinct department in a hurry, knowing that, unfortunately, they did not have the liberty to be sidetracked.

Not long after, Officers Hopps and Wilde reached the steps in front of the police department. Scampered up, they encountered three fellow officers -a bear, a lion, and a jaguar, whose names were Grant, Terill, and Joan, respectively-, taking their coffee break outside. They each held a mug in one paw, and a bag of chips or a doughnut in the other, and were busy with a light conversation they held together. As they noticed their fox and bunny colleagues, they all smiled simultaneously, and waved their paws at the two. Judy and Nick waved back at them hastily, meaning to race past them and heed little to no attention to their actions. but just as they did, both Hopps and Wilde could not help but to notice Grant bump shoulders with Terril, and inch his face close to his ear.

"Hey, look," Judy and Nick heard Grant mutter in what could hardly be considered a whisper. "Officer Wilde is back, and Hopps is with him." Terril chuckled haughtily, lifting a paw to his belly as he eyed the two small officers.

"I can't wait to hear what the chief has to say to her," the lion remarked.

Seeming to ignore their comments, Judy walked on, but Nick lifted an eyebrow as moved closer to his colleague. As the electric doors to the entrance opened, and the two officers entered the department, the male fox nudged his partner's side with an elbow. Judy jolted, taken by surprise, but she quickly buried this beneath her tense face.

"What, Nick?" the bunny officer asked in a hushed voice that hinted irritation. Lifting a paw to the top of his head, Officer Wilde began to rub his fur.

"Are you in trouble with the boss?" he asked, picking at his hairs. "Because if you are, and it's my fault, I am terribly sorry." Judy briskly exhaled air from her mouth, and then shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," she remarked. "I can handle Chief Bogo."

"Are you sure?" the fox inquired, putting the paw he had on his head in his pocket. "'Cause you have a knack for getting on Bogo's bad side." Chuckling, he nudged her with his elbow again. "And that's saying a lot, considering the fact that I'm the one he calls a clown." Looking up at Nick's face, the bunny officer noticed he wore his crooked, artful smile. Vexed by the fact that his grin irked, and seemed tremendously attractive to her, Judy quickly shot her glance forward again.

"As I said," Judy replied while sighing. "Don't worry about." Focusing her attention on her surroundings, Officer Hopps examined the department lobby, and realized it was particularly active for the hour. On the first floor, police officers of all sizes walked in bunches while they shared case information with one another, or dragged suspects to the back of the building, where the station cells were held. Up on the second floor balcony, Judy saw the precinct captains gathered together just outside their department office, having a heated conversation. She then looked back down and directly in front of her, where she suddenly beheld Clawhauser.

… Clawhauser… the cheetah she had told her secret to...

The large, plump feline looked straight at the two officers while sitting behind his desk. He held the folds of his cheeks with both paws, and wore the biggest smile he physically could while staring at the oncoming officers. While Nick took this as Clawhauser being the flamboyant, _curious_ fellowhe normally was, Judy was more than aware of why his grin was so large.

…he was Clawhauser… the _talkative, expressive_ cheetah she had told her secret to...

"Hello Officer Wilde!" the plump cheetah shouted as he lifted and waved a paw energetically. Turning his attention to Judy, he puckered his lips, and pressed his other paw against his blubbery cheek again, making the bunny smile nervously.

...he was behaving like Clawhauser, the _talkative, expressive, and easy-to-read _ cheetah she had told her secret to...

"And hello to _you_ , Officer Hopps," the feline greeted her, making Judy's smile seem more nervous as she shyly shook her paw back at him. Nick approached the counter, and put his paws on it's surface.

"Benjo!" Nick started, pointing a friendly finger at the cheetah from where he stood. "Banjo-Benjo Clawhauser. Tell me, buddy, how's today treated you so far?" Clawhauser chuckled, shaking his head as he did. As he leaned forward to get a better view of his fox colleague, he shot a quick side-glance at Judy, and winked at her. Officer Hopps swallowed hard…

...he could not stop being Clawhauser, the _BIG MOUTHED, expressive, and easy-to-read_ cheetah she had told her secret to...

"The day's treated me well, _Nicky-Nick_ ," the cheetah officer replied in a mirthful voice, putting a particular emphasis on the fox's nickname -which Clawhauser had started using after Nick had chosen to call him Benjo-. "How's today treated _you?_ " Still grinning slyly, Officer Wilde shrugged his shoulders.

"What can I say," the fox remarked, lifting both paws up, palms open. "I got to lay down and rest for a while at a hospital." The fox's tail began to dance behind him as he said "how often can you do that during a work shift?" Clawhauser perked his body up as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh, did you?" the cheetah said in a voice that signaled concern "I heard you got hurt, but why did you go to the hospital?" Nick took a step back, and gave the cheetah a look askance. Judy also cocked her head to the side, surprised to hear him ask what he did.

"You don't know?" Nick asked, as his ears dropped to his side and he rubbed his neck with a paw.

"Umm..." Clawhauser nervously remarked as he cupped his paws, and began to repeatedly push the tips of both of his index fingers together. "You… sprained your ankle?" A crooked, confused smile grew on Officer Wilde's face, as he wondered how Clawhauser, responsible for receiving the majority of the radio calls sent back to the P.D., had managed to remain unaware. Noticing the fox's reaction to his answer, Benjamin frowned, and leaned his body towards Nick again. "What happened?" he asked again, aware that he had guessed poorly.

"Well, let's just say that..." Nick started, tilting his head to the side as he thought of a clever way to describe what had happened. Realizing he could not think of anything good, he decided to say it in plain words. "I was shot." Immediately, Clawhauser's stood up and gave Nick a wide eyed, open-jawed look of utter shock.

"You were shot!?" he asked shouting, making Judy jump back from the sudden outburst. Nick, standing still, grinned as he suddenly realized how inappropriately _cool_ it sounded to say he was shot. Putting his paws in his pocket, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, and feigned a look of disinterest, trying his best to appear to be like the _kickass_ cops in the best police movies.

"Yup," Officer Wilde remarked coolly, as he glanced at Judy from the corner of his eye. Noticing his _cool cop_ demeanor, Judy rolled her eyes. "And it hurt like a porcupine's needles to the butt. But hey! At least I'm here to tell you about it." Keeping his jaw open and his eyes wide, the plump cheetah officer dropped back onto his chair. Nick's words had reminded Benjamin of how air-headed and sincerely naive he could be, and that made him feel terrible. Suddenly lunging himself forward, he placed his head on the counter, and covered his face with his arms. Nick quickly dropped his _cool cop_ demeanor, fearing the cheetah may have passed out from the sudden news.

"Benjo, are you okay?" he asked. For a moment, there was no answer, and it did indeed seem like he had lost his conscience. "Benjo?"

"I'm such an idiot," Clawhauser muffled in a dramatic tone through the opening between his arms, confirming he had not passed out after all. Looking back at Judy, Nick gave her a look of confusion.

"Why would you say that, officer Clawhauser?" the bunny asked, as she moved closer to the feline.

"Well!" the feline bellowed as he rose to an upright sitting position. "Our Nick was shot! And I didn't even know about it..." He dropped his shoulders, as a frown grew on his face. Looking over to the Gazelle album he had on his desk labeled _Friends and Lovers_ made him feel even worse. Gazelle would never betray a friend like that, Benjamin thought. Oh, the cruelty.

"Some friend I am..." the feline remarked, drooping his head down.

"Heey... don't worry about it. Its not like I expected you to have a bouquet of flowers and a card for me," Nick said in a gentler, empathetic manner. . "It's okay, Benjo, really." Lifting his head, the overweight cheetah revealed his sorry face.

"Is it, really?" Clawhauser asked in a sulken voice.

"It is," Nick replied, winking at the feline. "I mean, I at least you knew I was hurt."

"Yeah, I did hear that," he began to explain in an apologetic manner. "But from John, who was taking the radio calls while I was on a bathroom break. He didn't tell me exactly what had happened, except that you were hurt, so I assumed you had simply sprained yourself, or something of the sort. I never considered the fact that you'd be getting shot!" Nick chuckled in a light-hearted manner once more, trying to convince Clawhauser he did not feel any resentment at all.

"Oh yeah?" Nick asked as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Then the chief came back," Clawhauser continued in a faster voice. "But I was foolish enough as to not ask him what had happened, thinking again that it could not have been too bad. And then, I had a little snack break, but didn't ask anyone what had happened while I was in the break room. And then you sent me that text message," he added, turning his eyes to Judy, who, upon hearing the word "message" felt her heart sink. "And then we started talking about you and N-."

…Clawhauser, the _BIG MOUTHED, OVER EXPRESSIVE, AND OBVIOUS_ cheetah was about to reveal her secret to the last person who she wished to know!

...She had to stop him, fast!

"Benjamin!" Judy interrupted the cheetah with a loud shout, interrupting him successfully before he could speak the name she _knew_ he was about to say. Side-glancing at Nick, the bunny officer discreetly looked for signs that her colleague knew what Clawhauser was going to say. Her partner observed the cheetah with a puzzled look, easing Judy into thinking he was unaware; but in truth, he knew... It was too obvious to him what he was going to say…. _"talking about you and Nick..."_

Very prudently, Officer Wilde turned to observe Judy, and as she caught sight of this, their eyes locked. In her visage, Nick could see hints of what the vixen doctor had said to him: She observed him with a fondness, despite the fact that she put all her efforts into making it seem like this was not the case. The way her eyes scanned his face, however, revealed it all. After showing a quick smile, he turned to look back at the cheetah, prompting Officer Hopps to do the same. "You don't need to worry… as Nick said" she said, clumsily justifying why she had suddenly shouted with her words. Cupping her paws together, lifting her ears, and smiling, she tried to hide any evidence left of her face that indicated why she had really silenced the feline."He's okay." Nick nodded, in agreement with Judy, easing the bunny into thinking that she had managed to do the impossible task of stopping Clawhauser in his tracks while not making things awkward.

"Carrots is right: I am okay," Officer Wilde said in a calm and collected manner. "This little bunny took good care of me at the hospital" he added, while nudging Judy with an elbow, and getting her to blush ever slightly. Being that Benjamin had the ability to change moods like the wind could change directions, the plump cheetah went from showing guilt, to showing adoration. Placing his paws together, he lifted them up to his head, and pressed his cheek against them. He then puckered his lips, as he gazed at both officers with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Aww… you did, Judy?" Clawhauser cooed, further embarrassing Officer Hopps. Knowing, however, that showing bashfulness would only worsen things, she went along with the flow, nudging Nick back, as she smiled pleasantly.

…Clawhauser, the _big mouthed, overly expressive, and obvious_ cheetah who she had told her secret to would not get the best of her...

"Yup! It is my _duty_ to make sure my partner's okay," Judy started, putting a special emphasis on the word _duty_. Chuckling in a forced manner, she added "You know what they say at the academy… no officers left behind!" Judy and Clawhauser locked eyes, when she suddenly gestured towards Nick with a quick movement of her eyes, and then shook her head no. Benjamin, being skillful at reading silent gestures, finally realized what Judy wanted from him: discretion concerning her secret. Lowering his paws the feline reached for a doughnut he had on a plate next to him, and picked it up.

"I g-guess you're right," Clawhauser replied in a cheerful voice, as he started to follow Judy's current. "What you did was _honorable_ ," he added, before stuffing his mouth with the deep-fried, frosted treat he held. Feeling great relief to know that her feline friend had finally understood her, Officer Hopps sighed. At last, she could relax for a moment...but for a _very_ brief moment, for as she loosened her shoulders, she remembered Chief Bogo, and the suspect, and the gosh-darned time! Erecting herself, the bunny stood rigidly as she took her cellphone out of her pocket, and activated the screen. It was 4:17. Dread filled Judy, who shot a horror-struck glance at Nick.

"Nick, we are _really_ late," she said in a tone of desperation, getting the fox to look her way with alertness in his eyes.

"Oh yeah," Clawhauser remarked as he remembered instruction given to him earlier on. "Chief Bogo is expecting you in prep-room five. He radioed me moments before you came in, at 4:00 I think, to see if you had arrived or not." Frowning, he added, "you better hurry, because he sounded a little grumpier than he normally is." Judy lifted her paws, and placed them on the sides of her head as she wondered why Clawhauser had not told them this before.

"Sweet cheese and crackers..." Judy murmured in distress. "We have to go now!" Nick nodded at her, before reaching into his pocket, and retrieving the slip of paper Linda had given him. Turning, he made a small jump, and placed the paper on the front desk counted.

"Here, this is for you to put into my folder," Nick said in a hurried manner, just as Judy raced past him and towards the corridor to Clawhauser's left. Benjamin took the paper, and put it on a pile of sheets that read " _To be archived,_ " but as he saw Nick turn and get ready to bolt after his partner, he remembered one last thing.

"Wait!" Clawhauser called out seconds catching Nick's attention just as he was about to leave.

"Yes?" Officer Wilde asked, as he turned back towards the feline officer.

"I'll be leaving at 5:00," Clawhauser started, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So if you're not done with Bogo before then, what should I do with the toy car you asked me to get yesterday?" A smile suddenly grew on Nick's face as he remembered the toy car. After looking back to make sure Judy had not gone too far ahead -which she hadn't- he hustled back towards Benjamin.

"You're the best, Benjo!" Nick clamoured, happy to know the feline had followed through with his promise. "Do you have it with you?" Nick asked, still holding a grin on his face.

"Yup," Clawhauser replied, reaching beneath the counter and taking out one of the new Z.P.D. branded police cruiser toys the department had started to make to promote themselves. "Right here. Can you take it with you now?" Officer Wilde nodded, as he grasped it with haste and rushed towards Judy, who had made it to the middle of the corridor.

"Thanks, Benjo! I owe you one!" Nick shouted.

"No problem, Nicky-Nick!" Clawhauser shouted back.

* * *

Nick caught up to Judy moments after she reached the entrance to prep-room five, and had come to sudden stop just outside the room. Standing in front of the closed door, Officer Hopps had an anxious look decorating her face. She was not sure what to say to chief Bogo, and could not help but to fear what her boss would have in store for her. As Officer Wilde reached her side, she glanced over to him, and noticed that, after he had caught his breath, he put on a face gentle and collected. Judy envied this about Nick. He could keep a calm composure before all adversities, and did not even seem to struggle to do so.

"Ready to face Mr. Grumpy-boss?" Nick asked, branding his face with a toothy smile. Taking comfort from her colleague's ease of mind, Officer Hopps smiled back.

"Sure." And so, Officer Wilde reached past his partner, took the door handle and opened the door. Looking inside the room, they noticed Chief Bogo pacing to and fro behind a metal table, looking ponderous. Staying as quiet as they possibly could the two officers stepped inside, feeling the chill of the room's air conditioning hit their faces as they did. Despite their silence, however, chief Bogo noticed the arrival of the fox and bunny and turned to look at them. For what seemed an eternity to both Officers Hopps and Wilde, Bogo remained unmoved, contemplating them. Suddenly, however, he looked away, and continued to pace back and forth in silence. This gave Nick and Judy a slight moment to observe their surroundings: On the metal table, the bag Judy knew she had confiscated from their suspect lay on its side, while what she assumed was its contents were laid out in front of it. Among the contents of the bag, the officers noticed a lip balm stick, and a small mirror, alongside what seemed to be two large rolls of paper money, and a written note. Next to all this sat the gun Officer Hopps had removed from Franklin Longtail's paws. A magazine stood upright next to the firearm, and the gun itself was set in a slide-locked position. Looking over to the left toward the two-way mirror on the wall, Nick noticed the otter they had captured sitting behind a table in the interrogation room, alongside two guards that stood behind him. The suspect had his head down, but from seeing the shape of his face, and the slickness of his fur, Nick was knew it was his old friend.

"You're late," Chief Bogo remarked in a deep, serious tone as he ceased to walk, and turned to face his fellow officers. Judy felt a knot build in her throat as she thought of something… anything to say.

"We're sorry, Chief Bogo…" Judy started in an apologetic voice, as she put a paw to her chest and frowned. "When you called me, Nick was about to be re-" Before she could continue, the chief rose a paw, prompting Judy to close her mouth shut.

"It doesn't matter," the chief remarked. Lowering his paw, he put it on the metal table in front of him. "What matters is that you're here, and that you brought Officer Wilde with you." Hearing Bogo's words, Judy felt almost like all the tension dropped from her shoulders. Perhaps, she was saved by bringing her fox colleague after all. Nick smiled in a toothy manner, which he knew his boss found oddly unamusing.

"Hey, boss," Nick greeted Bogo, getting him to shoot his sharp glance in the fox's direction.

"Wilde," the cape buffalo spoke in return as he straightened his back, and made himself tower over the two smaller mammals, giving himself an undoubted look of authority. "I'm glad you're okay and that you're here with us. Tell me, are you allowed to work?" Keeping his smile, Nick pointed a finger gun at his boss, and made a "click" noise with his tongue. As a result, Bogo grunted.

"I sure can, boss," Nick replied in a smooth voice, as he taunted the chief with a wink. "The doctor gave me the green light." Holding his urge to roll his eyes, the bovine decided to sigh instead.

"Good, I'm glad..." Bogo said in a voice that hinted slight irritation. Knowing that he could push his buttons just a little further, Nick did the paw gun gesture again.

"The best cops just don't give up, you know," he joked, prompting Chief Bogo to lift an eyebrow, and give Nick a look of drudgery.

"I see..." he remarked, showing little interest in playing games with the jokester fox. Focusing his attention on the male officer's shirt, the buffalo realized he wore it inside out. "Is there a specific reason for why you're wearing your shirt incorrectly?" he asked, tilting his head as he did. Nick smiled sheepishly, as he tucked his paws in his pockets.

"Well, they cut up my uniform, as you _might_ remember," he started, winking as he spoke the word _might_. Looking back and forth between Nick and Bogo, Judy's stomach sunk deeply as she wondered when Nick would cease to _take the bull by his horns_. "And so, since I didn't want to come back shirtless and _indecent_ , we bought a shirt at the hospital's gift shop." Lifting his shirt up, he partially tucked the inside outwards, revealing the message the shirt had stamped on it. As he did, Judy stole another glance as the fox's abdomen, which was partially wrapped in gauze from below his ribs, up to his pectoral muscles. "This shirt, however, had a message that simply wouldn't do." Letting go of his shirt, he let it cover his exposed fur, and then smiled. For a moment, the chief stood in silence, processing the oddity that was Nick and his mannerisms; but finally, he forcefully blew air out of his nose as he shook his head.

"Very well," he remarked. "Getting back to business… I assume officer Hopps gave you the 411 on our current situation. Am I correct?"

"Yes, sir," Judy spoke as she straightened her posture. "I did."

"10-4," Nick added, pointing his finger at their chief. Ignoring the fox's last action, Chief Bogo leaned over the metal table, placing both hooves on it. He then looked over to the interrogation room behind the two way mirror, and eyed the otter suspect. After a second, he brought his glance back at the two officers in front of him.

"Then I also assume you know who is behind this mirror over there," he said, lifting a hoof and pointing it directly towards Franklin. Nick's smile dropped suddenly, and instead, he gave the chief a look of severity. A moment passed, and Nick stood frozen as he felt tension build up within him. Franklin was there, in the interrogation room, and after eight years, he was about to confront him.

"Umm, yes," Nick finally said, kicking his foot subtly as he looked at the ground. "That is Franklin Longtail. I can tell it's him." Chief Bogo took a long breath, before he reached over to the note on the table, and opened it.

"Then let me tell you something you don't know," the bovine said in a clear, loud voice, getting Officer Wilde to look back up at him. "Apparently, your _acquaintance_ was very selective when he decided to commit his aggravated robbery." Lifting his hoof, Chief Bogo shook the open note in front of the two officers. Officer Wilde tilted his head to the side, unsure of why his boss did this.

"What do you mean?" the fox asked, as he took a step closer to metal table. Lowering his hoof, Bogo took the note.

"Upon inspecting the contents of this bag, we uncovered three important details," the buffalo started. "First, we found out that this bag belongs to Julia Diga, wife of Fred Diga." He freed a his hoof by letting go of one of the corners of the note, and pointed to the gun laid before him. "The Digas are known for owning one of the few manufacturing companies that specialize in making firearms for medium-sized to small mammals, just like the gun you see here." Chief Bogo let go of the paper entirely only to reach for his reading glasses, hanging from his chest pocket. Taking a hold of these, he brought them up to his face and put them on, squinting his eyes as he adjusted himself to the way everything looked different. The mannerism humored Nick, as it normally did -mainly because it made the proud, titanic chief look comically vulnerable to have to struggle with his sight. But Nick remained quiet, knowing it was Franklin who they were dealing with. "Second," the bovine continued, retrieving the paper yet again. "We discovered three thousand dollars in her bag, and while this might not be a problem in a general sense, after further inspection, we found out these bank bills had been reported stolen after they were taken in a bank heist in Fortica" The fox nodded slowly.

"That's an hour West out of Zootopia, right?" Nick asked.

"That's right," Bogo replied. "Two of our detectives are doing an archive search to see if there is any information on who was involved in this heist, but so far, they haven't found anything." Judy's ears jumped up high as she lifted a paw and placed it on the tip on her chin. Who would have known that catching a simple purse snatcher would lead to such an elaborate case? Then again, she thought to herself, it was the successful capture of Weaselton that lead Nick and her to the ultimate truth about the Howler Case. Perhaps the two officers were a little more lucky than the average police officer. "Finally," Chief Bogo added, turning the paper he held in his hooves around to show its content to Officers Hopps and Wilde. The paper was mainly blank, with the exception of a small portion of writing right in the middle. Nick and Judy took a step forward, and squinted their own eyes as they tried to read out the message. It read:

 _A small contribution to your family and business, in hopes that you may favor our work. May this investment be the seeds that bring about a great harvest._

 _D. O._

Having read the message, both officers Nick and Judy shifted their attention to Bogo again, who had been patiently waiting for the officers to finish analyzing the paper.

"We found this note," Bogo said, turning the paper back around and giving it another read. "Stapled to one of the rolls of cash. It gives us the impression that the person, OR persons who offered this money to the Digas may have been involved in the Fortica heist, and must not be overlooked." Taking a step back, Nick worked his brains around the information he had just received from his boss. As he ran his paw from his cheek up to his ear, he suddenly came to a realization.

"Hold on, chief," Nick said in a firm voice, drawing his boss' attention. "Does this have any correlation to Franklin at all? Perhaps he chose this so called Julia Diga by chance, and has nothing to do with this other case we're building now?" Bogo nodded, acknowledging Nick's reasoning. After placing the note on the table next to the cash, he leaned over the table, closer to Nick.

"One might naturally assume that, Wilde," he started, as he took his glasses off, and placed them back in his pocket. "However, your acquaintance, Longtail, told us otherwise." Nick took another step back.

"He did?" the fox officer asked, shocked. Standing up straight again, the cape buffalo nodded.

"Yes," Bogo replied. "After we brought him here, he demanded to know if it was you whom he shot. Naturally, we did not reveal that information to him, for it wasn't our place to do so." Placing his hooves together, he added "after a while, however, he told us that he knew exactly how much money was in the bag, and indicated that he knew who wrote the note we now possess; but he would not reveal this information unless he would get the right to be interrogated by you." The buffalo shook his head, as he let out a deep sigh. "It was a pretty strange request… but after I interrogated him myself, we struck a deal: I wanted to make sure he was not bluffing about what he allegedly knew, so I told him that if he he would indicate how much money was in the bag, and would give me the initials of the mammal who wrote the note, and if he'd get both right, I would promise him the right to talk to you..." A very slight, crooked smile grew on Officer Wilde's face as a result of what he heard.

"That's a little _loose cannon_ of you, don't you think, boss?" the fox remarked in a playful attitude. Judy, shook her head: No matter how serious things could get, her partner could not hold his urge to taunt and tease. Chief Bogo glared at Nick, holding his urge to shout at the jokester fox.

"That's beyond the point," the buffalo remarked, almost growling the words. "What matters is that Franklin Longtail agreed, and was able to indicate both how much money we held in custody, and what Initials were on the note. Having confirmed that he was right, we told him he could talk to you as soon as you were able to do so… I personally didn't imagine you'd be out of the hospital so soon, though." Nick snickered, as he pointed a finger gun at the chief… again.

"Best cops don't give up," he repeated, managing to irk both Chief Bogo and Judy simultaneously. Lifting a hoof up to his head, the chief began to rub his temple.

"Wilde..." he muttered in frustration. After he held his silence for a moment, he lowered his hoof back onto the table. "Anyway… I want to know if you're willing to talk to your acquaintance… perhaps if you can, we can get valuable information about the case we've built so far." Craning his head, Nick glanced to Franklin, sitting quietly in the interrogation room. He noticed how calm he was; His breathing was even, and he kept his cuffed paws in front of him completely motionless. This was not like the Franklin he knew before… The Franklin he knew feared getting caught, and despite the otter's creativity in regards to all the cons he invented, he would always need reassurance from Nick. Also, if ever they would get close to getting in trouble, he would start to panic in front of Nick… The Franklin he knew would have never sat in an interrogation room like he did.

"Yes," Nick said, turning his attention to Chief Bogo with newfound worry painted on his face. "I do want to talk to him." The bovine chief nodded.

"Very well..." he said. "Then let's get you into a uniform." Having said this, Chief Bogo walked around the table and headed out of the room. As the door closed behind the buffalo, Nick walked over to the two way mirror, and stood in front of it in silence. Judy followed her colleague, placing herself next to him. She looked up at her partner's face, and noticed he was sullen and contemplative.

"So," Judy started in a cool voice, containing the excitement she had built up from knowing they faced a new case for the sake of her friend.

"Yes?" Nick asked, looking away from the suspect, towards Judy.

"Are you sure you want to talk to this acquaintance of yours?" she asked. "I mean… I could talk to him myself..." Nick sighed, and shook his head.

"Franklin is my _friend_ ," he clarified. "And I _do_ want to talk to him… It's just a bit shocking to me that he might be involved in something deep and frightening." Judy moved closer to her partner, giving herself the luxury of standing side by side with him. Nick noticed the proximity between the two, and was comforted by it.

"Hey," Judy started in a tender voice. "I'm here for you." Nick smiled, feeling a rush of warm, loving emotions fill his heart.

"Haven't you been since the howler case?" Nick asked in a calm, but coltish tone.

"I guess I have," Judy remarked in an equally toying voice, ignoring the heat that rushed to her cheeks as she blushed.

"Well, now we're dealing with another major case," Nick remarked, crossing his arms. "And, from what the chief just told us… it seems that the plot has thickened..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys, shade here! Sorry for the slight delay of this chapter. These last few weeks, I've been terribly busy, and I wanted to make sure this chapter was as good as possible before I put it up, so I did not rush it.**

 **Anyway, I loved writing this chapter for two reasons. 1. Clawhauser is amazing to write, and 2. It has a lot of good, juicy content. With this chapter, the plot has indeed thickened... Get ready for lots of good mystery and action!**

 **I'd like to thank my beta readers for kicking my butt around until I got this baby in good shape for publication.**

 **Here's my special thanks to those amazing readers:**

 **\- Tumblr's Vetinarini for her wonderful feedback in regards to the content of the chapter, as well as for pointing out typos I made.**

 **\- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis for catching a TON of typos and little grammar mistakes I made, alongside giving me some pointers on how I could improve the last scene of the chapter.**

 **\- John Olsen for providing very elaborate feedback in a VERY elaborate way.**

 **\- DeviantArt's AIMYY for catching a good amount of typos, and teasing me for them. :P**

 **Please comment. I'd love to hear from you!**

 **Thankies!**


	7. A Friend with Vague Answers

**Chapter 7: A Friend with Vague Answers**

As Chief Bogo opened the entrance to the interrogation room, a slight, but acute aroma of perspiration, mixed with palpable tension rushed into the prep room with a cold breeze. Acclimating himself to the anxiety that weighed down on his chest, the fox officer took a deep breath, and let the aerosol concoction rush into his lungs and seep through the pores of his skin. The sweat smelled familiar, like if it belonged to someone he knew. It was the sweat of Franklin Longtail... Observing the door sill separating the carpet in the prep room from the tile floor in the interrogation chamber, Nick suddenly realized he was was far more tense about facing his friend than he would have wanted to be. It was only Franklin after all, he thought. But then again, he might be different…

Before taking his first step into the room, Officer Wilde looked left and glanced over to Judy, allowing himself a moment to contemplate her violet eyes. Those sweet, concerned orbs kept a steady gaze on his visage, whispering voiceless secrets about her feelings towards him. It was odd, but very exciting that he could say he knew the language of her gaze… the language of Judy's secrets. Smiling tenderly, Nick acknowledged the officer, and in return, Officer Hopps placed a paw on his arm, and grasped onto the sleeve of his new summer uniform.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" the bunny officer asked in a hushed voice, aware that whoever was in the interrogation room could hear them. Nick kept himself silent for a moment, as he perceived his own tension again. He was about to face Franklin, his old friend whom he had not seen in ages, and the otter that had nearly killed him earlier on in the day. For a moment, the fox felt the urge to tell Judy that he did want her to come in with him, to face this obstacle like they had faced many others since the Nighthowler Case; but as the seconds passed, he realized he could not do that to Franklin. Franklin _was_ his friend, after all, and regardless of who he was at this moment, he had the right to meet with the fox officer alone. Contemplating Judy's eyes with more voracity that before, Nick nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," the fox officer answered, giving Judy a gentle and assuring smile. "Stay here and listen to the conversation though." Having heard him, Judy smiled back, let go of his sleeve, and punched his arm very softly so as to show him she had his back.

"Of course I will, partner," Officer Hopps said in a light-hearted manner. "We'll handle this case together, like we did the one before." Feeling comforted by his colleague's words, Nick felt his shoulders ease up slightly. Still smiling, Nick gave Judy's face one last look, before looking ahead at the open entrance.

"Well, wish me luck then," Officer Wilde said in a half-distracted manner. Officer Hopps placed a paw on her colleague's back, comforting him with her delicate touch.

"Good luck, Nick," Judy remarked, and after acknowledging her words with another nod, the officer took a long step forward, and entered the room.

Having been in the confines of the more dimly lit prep-office, Officer Wilde was caught by surprise when the bright, stabbing, pale light that came from the florescent illumination above struck his face. Looking down at the tiled floor and squinting his eyes, he allowed himself a moment to get adjusted to the brightness. His senses, the fox noticed, were sharper than usual: The aroma of sweat was suddenly more poignant, the air circulating the room felt colder, and he could feel the palpitation of his heart against his chest. Nick took a few steps further into the room, when suddenly, the door behind him was closed. Standing frozen, the fox took a deep breath and closed his eyes, but as he did, he heard the ruffling of clothing and fabric straight ahead, and was prompted to rapidly open his eyes and look up. Franklin Longtail, his old-time friend, had his feet planted firm on the ground, and had nearly risen, if it had not have been for the large puma officers behind him branding their batons and taking a step towards him. Time stood still for a moment, as Officer Wilde looked directly at the otter's face, and recognized the small features that made him who he was; from the slight discoloration on the tip of his nose, to the scar on his left cheek; but most importantly, Nick noticed his crystalline-blue eyes... eyes which he had never seen on any other otter he had met before -and many otters he had indeed met in his life-. Nick's stomach sunk, as he realized he had been a fool to not have noticed his eyes when he encountered Franklin on the streets. They were nearly impossible to miss, yet, in the chaos of the moment, he had overlooked that key detail.

"Nick," Franklin spoke in a timbre that Officer Wilde immediately recognized as belonging to his friend. Swallowing hard, the fox acknowledged the undeniable fact that he was there, standing right in front the one otter that had been a brother to him at one point in his life. For a while, Nick could not break eye contact with Franklin, but once he finally did, he noticed the puma officers behind his old-friend. Both were getting tenser with each second that passed. Observing their eyes and slight gestures, Nick realized they were calculating where to strike the otter to incapacitate him and, therefore, neutralize the threat. As an outcome, a knot was formed in the fox officer's throat. He had to get Franklin to sit, or he would be in dire trouble.

"Frankie, sit down," Officer Wilde ordered the half risen otter, while lifting a paw and gesturing for his fellow officers to stand down. Franklin remained in place unmoved, allowing tensions to rise, but as he heard the slight noise of the police behind him placing a harder grip on their beating-sticks, he flopped down on his chair and put his paws on the table in front of him. Nick loosened his shoulders in return, satisfied to know that the otter could still be reasoned with. At least, in that sense, he no longer needed to expect the worst. Looking away from his colleagues and back down at Franklin, Officer Wilde noticed his friend had focused his whole attention solely on him, and was staring at his face with unsettling intensity, seeming to look for something, or someone as he scanned his face. Perhaps, the fox officer guessed from the bottom of his guts, he was trying to find _the Nick_ he once knew… A Nick that would not be wearing a police uniform, or be ordering him around. This made the fox feel uneasy, as he realized starting a conversation with him would take work. As Nick took a step forward towards his friend, he began to figure a way to begin the talk.

"The officers here behind you are Todd and Rose," Officer Wilde broke the ice with his contemplative friend, gesturing at his colleagues with the flick of his eyes, while methodically moving forward. "They're pretty nice mammals, but they do pack a nasty punch... Trust me, I trained with them at the academy…" Still, Franklin did not react, keeping his face stern and his eyes steady of Nick's. However, this did not discourage the fox, for he had a plan: Reaching the side of the table opposite to his friend, Nick stopped and stood behind the chair he was to sit on. Suddenly, a small, crooked smile grew on his face; a smile Franklin knew Wilde always made right before he was about to deliver one of his infamous punch lines. "If you'd have stayed up, you may have ended up _like that one kid that nearly stole your twenty_." For a second, it seemed that the words Nick had spoken did not affect Franklin; but suddenly, the otter gave Wilde a glare, assuring the fox he had spoken _just the right words_ to bait his friend into a conversation. After a moment, Nick's otter friend loosened his face, and he returned a smile.

 _Bingo_ , Nick thought.

"It's been fifteen years… fifteen _whole_ years since that incident," Franklin said as he slowly shook his head and his smile grew. "And you still haven't forgotten."

 _Success!_ Nick thought as his tail perked up and his smile grew a little more.

"It's hard to forget…" Nick remarked, as he thought back to the old memory he had of Franklin when he still dwelled in the orphanage and was a devil of a conniver. "Especially because it happened on the day I met you. If I recall correctly, you decided to escape from _Orph Home_ on that day, taking with you all the girl scout cookies they had recently bought, which you were going to sell them in the name of _'The Orphan Boy Charity.'_ Am I mistaken?" Franklin Longtail shook his head again very slowly, as he kept his eyes locked on the fox's. The otter had not heard the name "Orph Home" - a name which he had jokingly given to his orphanage- in a long while. He had actually nearly forgotten the name, yet it seemed that Nick had not lost memory of it. Amazing it was, Franklin mused, that his friend remembered.

"Perhaps not..." the otter replied, leaning back on his chair. Inclining himself forward, Nick placed his paws on the back rest of the chair in front of him.

"Well, from what I remember," Nick continued, entertained by his own story. "You were selling each of those cookie boxes for fifteen a pop, but when that kid gave you a 50, the price had _very mysteriously_ gone up to 25 a bit. What was the kid's name again?" The otter rolled his eyes, knowing Nick was intentionally pushing his buttons, as he would often do.

"Bill," Franklin clarified.

"Riiight…" Nick said as he lifted his paw and snapped his fingers. "Bill… Good old 'Don't mess with me, I'm Bill!'" he added, lifting the pitch of his voice as he imitated the kid they had met long before. In response, Franklin felt the urge to chuckle, but knowing he was in a police department, detained and being interrogated, he sealed his lips. The seconds passed, however, and soon enough the otter could not help but to reveal a smirk, prompting Nick to grin coyly in return. "Anyway," the fox officer continued, still contemplating his friends grin. "After he found out you were keeping the money, he threatened to ram you, and call his goat mommy so she could ram you too. That's when I showed up." There was silence for a moment, before Franklin tapped his paw on the table, and leaned forward. Focusing his attention solely on Nick's face, the otter contemplated the fox's smugness, a feature he had not lost since last he saw him. Wilde was Wilde, Franklin mused as his grin grew.

"You did," The otter mused while nodding slowly.

"I did," Nick continued. "And when I did, you told me you needed my help because _Billy the Kid_ was going to steal 20 from an orphan boy charity drive." As Nick's smile became toothy, the fox lifted a paw to his forehead, began to shake his head. "On that day, you not only tricked me into beating that kid senseless, but then you sold me one of your overpriced cookie boxes… and that I cannot forgive you for." Again, Franklin felt the urge to start laughing, but with a bit of self restraint, he swallowed the desire. Instead, he panned his eyes up and down Nick, giving himself a moment to observe his old-time fox friend in nearly all of his entirety.

"You have the memory of an elephant, _Nick P. Wilde_ ," the otter remarked as his gaze returned to the fox's visage. Nick winked at the otter, acknowledging his words, and then went to pull out the chair he held in his paws. Once it was drawn, he moved around it with his _foxy_ slickness, and sat down.

"I remember what's important," Nick said matter-of-factly, as he scooted his rear to the edge of his seat, leaned back, and propped his right elbow on the rest behind him. "And you, my friend, certainly are." As Nick closed his mouth and smiled, the fox noticed the words he had spoken seemed to echo in the interrogation room. Franklin shot his glance down at his paws in front of him, as he processed what he had just heard. Staring directly at his facade, Officer Wilde could see a struggle being held behind his gem-blue eyes.

"Nick..." the otter started, speaking the name with a deliberate slowness. "It's been a while since I last spoke to you," he added sighing, as his ears dropped to the sides of his head. "It's been too long..." Nodding listlessly, the fox's smile was replaced for a sullen look of nostalgia. It had been a long time, the officer realized… a time where they both moved on, did their own thing, and had forgotten about each other, even after everything they had been through together. As Nick's eyes shot down towards the surface of the table before him, he let himself remember the struggles and good times they both had shared as con-mammals. It was strange, Nick realized, but while he acknowledged his life had been pretty messy in the past -before Judy-, he could not say he wished for it to be otherwise. It was also curious, the fox also mused, that his life had been divided in two, where things happened _before Judy_ and _after Judy._ B.J., A.J..

 _B.J…. heh…_

 _..._

… Realizing he had strayed off the matter at hand, Nick looked back up at Franklin.

"Yes..." the fox officer agreed, as his own ears flopped down. "Eight years… it's been eight years since we last stayed in touch, Frank. That _is_ a long time." The otter gave Nick a blank stare in return, when he suddenly he opened his mouth and let out a small huff of air.

"It is," the otter said, before looking down in contempt and shame. Silence filled the room, making the ticking of a clock that hung to the left of Nick and Franklin present. As Officer Wilde continued to observe Franklin, his mind withdrew itself from all thoughts of his present life, and let nostalgia dance in his chest as he remembered the old days. Back then, he had Franklin there to make his day to day life a lot easier. Being that he had left home the moment he turned eighteen, Nick was prone to letting solitude into his life. Sure, he was out on the streets making a good buck out of everyone he could sweet-talk into conning, but at the end of the day, he would always shelter himself away wherever he would spend the night -be it beneath a bridge, or a rutty apartment he could afford. When Franklin came into his life, however, all of that changed. The otter was one to insist on being around Nick even after they had finished their " _day's work_ ," and despite Nick's tendency to seek solitude, Franklin would always manage to walk himself home with him. Long nights the two spent together talking about life, and enjoying each others company as they defeated the urban demon of _crowded loneliness. That_ Nick could not thank Franklin enough for.

But then the otter left Nick to join Mr. Big and gang, and the fox fell back into a world of solitude… A world he had only started to escape from _after Judy…_

… _after Judy..._

"So…" Franklin suddenly spoke, dragging Nick out of his own thoughts. Looking back up, the fox locked eyes with his old-time friend. "How has life been?" Suddenly, Officer Wilde felt a weight drop in the center of his chest, as his _nostalgia_ quickly turned to _mortification_. Deep down inside, he could not believe the audacity of Franklin asking such a nonchalant question after not only having disappeared for eight years, but also hacing SHOT HIM -be it that he did by accident, or not-. It was  RIDICULOUS, but, oddly, very much like something the Franklin Longtail he knew would do, as he was a mammal to always want to lighten the mood when things would go sour. Burying his emotions within, he decided to take the coy route out of his question.

"Pretty okay, I guess," Nick said sarcastically… perhaps, a little too sarcastically. "I've been around, doing a little bit here… and a little bit there…" Leaning forward, the fox smiled sardonically. "I assume you didn't hear I became a _copper_. Pretty strange that I would join the shield… I know! But it's a long story." Again, Franklin's head dropped down in shame. The otter knew Nick too well to not be aware of what his friend was getting at: That he was an idiot for having taken this route out of having the conversation they had to have. Taking a deep breath of air, the otter looked back up at his friend.

"I didn't know foxes could become officers of the law," Franklin remarked sincerely. Again, this hurt Nick, for his otter friend seemed to have not taken his hint. Regardless, Wilde held in his emotions, as he snapped his fingers and lifted his shoulders.

"But, I'm the first, Frankie," the fox explained.

"Who would have known..." the otter said in a musing voice as he clasped his paws together. "Nick, you've changed," he added, trying in his own strange way to still lighten the mood. However, the otters last words became the straw that broke the camel's back. Having heard his friend speak, Nick felt irritated to the point that he could no longer hold his facade. Immediately, his smile and ears dropped, as he gave his friend a look of severity.

"I've changed?" the officer asked in surprise and anger, catching Franklin unaware. Glaring at his friend, Nick wanted to yell at him for having disappeared, abandoning him out of a whim, but he knew he could not. Instead, the fox let his anger channel to the next thing that bothered him: That he had shot him without second thought."I've changed!? Franklin, the you I knew didn't include murder in his act. 'We con, we steal, but we don't harm anyone...' remember that?" Nick asked, reminding the otter of philosophy they had taken " _for the greater good of predator-kind_ ," knowing that if they would not, they would be among the worst of the worst. Balling his paws into fists, Nick suddenly slammed them against the table, startling the otter and the puma officers behind him. " _THOSE_ were the words you said on the day you decided to drop out from the gang to join Mr. Big! I remember _THAT_ very well." As the foxes shouts rung in the air, Franklin kept a silent, stern face. The ticking of the clock became present again, as the otter opened his mouth.

"Nick… I'm sorry," The otter said in a tone of severity. "I didn't know it was you when I drew the gun and shot." In the back of Officer Wilde's mind, he knew he was looking for this explanation from his friend. It had to be the truth, because the fox knew Franklin would never harm a friend as close as he was. However, Nick could not help but to feel more anger, for while his answer made it clear that his friend would not have harmed him, he was still indicating that his intention was to kill whoever was in his way. As the thought grew out of control in his mind, he came to assume that if it had been Judy that had stood in his way, he would feel no regret destroying her. The idea of losing his friend… and... _the greatest thing that had happened to him_ at the hands the otter he once knew as his friend boiled in his head with such intensity that he started to growl.

"So, if it would have been my partner, or anyone else in front of you, you would hold no regret!?" Nick shouted as the tension clumped in his shoulders. Standing, the fox officer pushed back his seat with such force that it nearly fell on it's back. "'We don't harm anyone,' Franklin! Those were your words!" Remaining up on his feet, Nick looked down at the otter with anger burning in his eyes. Franklin also looked back at him with severity; but little by little, the otter's composure began to falter. As his shoulders dropped, his lower lip began to tremble, and as Officer Wilde noticed this, a tear rushed out from the otter's eyes. Franklin had cracked, and felt terrible for what he had done.

"I _know_ those are my words," Franklin said hoarsely, as he tried his best to not have his voice falter. "And I would still never go as far as to kill anyone… Even _my boss_ knows that…" Franklin added, losing more control of his posture. Taking a deep, pained breath, the otter let more tears run out from his eyes and roll down onto his cheeks. "But I shot you because I was afraid for my life." Nick's rage was subdued the moment the otter finished speaking. While Franklin did doubt himself, and showed fear back when he and Nick were still partners in crime, he had never shown such vulnerability before. The otter, like Nick and Finnick, had also grown tough in the streets, and was taught, like his partners in crime, that " _tears were good for no one"_ -as Finnick would put it. The fox could count the times he had seen Franklin come close to crying on two paws, and the times he had actually cried on one. As he realized he had gotten a bit out of hand on his sudden outburst, Nick dropped his glance. Again, silence governed, and all Officer Wilde could do was keep his glance off his old-time friend. Craning his head back, he looked for the seat he had pushed behind him, but caught a glimpse of the two-way mirror that stood back on the wall. Nick glanced straight at it, as he imagined Judy with a concerned look, and Bogo being disappointed at him for his _inability to keep his emotions in line when interrogating the suspect_. Perhaps, in a moment or two, the chief would pull him out of the interrogation room, and off the case entirely.

"I am truly, deeply sorry, Wilde," Franklin broke the silence, getting Nick to snap his sight back at the otter, and notice his sorry face. Reaching back with a paw, the fox took the chair behind him, and sat down while a frown grew on his face. "I didn't mean to do what I did… but I did it because of the hell I've been facing in the last several months..." The words Nick heard coming from his friend made him realize he had overlooked all possible motives for why Franklin had attacked, and had simply concluded his old-time friend had done so because Mr. Big and his gang had changed him… As he scooted forward with his seat, Nick realized his emotions had indeed gotten the best of him.

"Franklin, what hell have you been facing?" Officer Wilde asked in a sullen voice as he leaned towards the table and placed his elbows on the surface. Eyeing the fox's police badge, Franklin showed slight hesitation to speak. Nick had treated him poorly, after all, and the otter could not help but think this was the outcome of the change he had gone through. Nick was a cop… and cops were dangerous...

...but as Franklin looked back up at his friend's face, he noticed the regret he wore. Perhaps, Franklin thought, he was still trustworthy.

"Nick… If working for _my boss_ has changed anything, it's my perspective on the _deeper sea_ , and what they actually do," Franklin began to explain, using the term "deeper sea," that both he and Nick knew to mean the underworld of organized crime; a world which, as a rule of thumb, small con arts, or "puddle boys," like themselves would avoid. Nick also noticed Franklin avoided referring to Mr. Big by his name, fearful, perhaps, of the consequences of talking about him in an interrogation. "You and I used to think _my current boss_ was bad, with the paw he has over certain areas of the city… but he is a saint in comparison to others. Sure, he does his share of bad things…" Stopping suddenly, the otter looked away from Nick, ashamed. "...And he's made me do a share of bad things…" Returning his glance to Nick, he added "but he has never gone to extents of others in the deeper sea. Hell, if anything, my boss has bettered his relations with the law." Nick nodded slowly, processing the otter's words little by little as he kept his emotions checked. Mr. Big, the fox knew with the experience he had acquired over the years, was indeed not the worst of the _baddies_ out there, in that sense, Franklin was right. "Maybe you were here..." Franklin added just before he stopped again, and looked down at Nick's badge once more. "…As an officer of the law, and heard from your colleagues involved in the Howler-Predator Trial that he testified against Bellweather in court." Staring blankly at his friend, Nick thought back to Bellweather, the trial, his participation in it, and his life today once again. Amazing it was, he thought -remembering that year old memory-, how that case, and the trial that followed it, changed his life entirely. _After Judy…_ he could help but think as he thought of the bunny and instinctively placed a subtle smile on his face.

"I did," Nick remarked, leaning his torso forward and further towards Franklin. Without thinking it through, he convinced himself he may as well tell him of his involvment. "In fact, you may not have known, but my partner, Officer Judy Hopps and I were directly involved in Bellweather's case… The news coverage didn't say much about us though." Franklin dropped his jaw in awe. In response, the fox thought back to his words, and realized he added one detail which he could have easily left out: that Judy was his partner. A knot formed in Nick's throat, as he wondered what the chief and Hopps were thinking of him at the moment. Again, he realized he could be removed from this case by Bogo at any moment.

"Judy Hopps?" the otter asked in a tone of astonishment. "Nick… Judy Hopps, the first bunny officer?" Sighing and lowering his eyes, Nick stared at the surface of the table. "Nick?" Franklin spoke again.

"Yes," the fox officer replied as he realized that, one, it was too late to go back on his words, and two, sooner or later, his otter friend would know who his arresting officer was. "Judy Hopps is my partner… Why do you ask?" he inquired, as the fur on his back rose. Feeling protective of his bunny colleague, Officer Wilde prayed his friend would reveal why knowing who Judy was had taken him by surprise. Lifting his paws, Nick's old friend covered his eyes.

" _The godmother's fox-friend_ ," Franklin muttered in a pained whisper Nick could barely hear, as he ran his paws down from his eyes to his cheeks. " _If they don't kill me, the boss will_." Dropping his head on the cold table before him, Franklin broke eye contact with Nick. Gazing at his deeply troubled friend, the fox realized what he was getting at. _The godmother_ , Officer Wilde figured, was obviously Judy, who had taken this title after Mr. Big granted her the right to be part of his family for saving his daughter; therefore, _the fox-friend_ was surely him. Putting two and two together in his head, a sorry smile grew on Nick's face. Mr. Big never took attacks to his family lightly; in fact, it was Nick's stunt with the skunk rug that nearly got him and Judy caught by Mr. Big's thugs. Again, the fox thought of Judy, and the change she brought to his life. If it would not have for his rabbit partner, he would have never seen the end to Mr. Big's desire to eradicate him. If not for Judy, the shrew's gang would have captured him sooner or later, and brought his life to an untimely end.

… _After Judy,_ Nick's fear of being killed by Mr. Big and his thugs became a distant nightmare of the past.

"Wilde," Franklin started in a tone of determination as he lifted his head off the table, catching the unconcerned fox by surprise. "You need to know the truth, especially now that I'm sure you, and your partner, Hopps, can do a better job than me at what I tried to do." Nick observed Franklin motionless for a moment, feeling unable to do anything else in response to his partner and his unanticipated words.

 _What he tried to do?_ Nick wondered. _What is he getting at?_

"Look," the otter continued without expecting to hear a word from his fox friend. "As I said before, there are others out there that are far worse than my boss... but of all those, one in particular is uniquely nefarious." Pausing, Franklin clenched his paw and shape it into a fist. "This mammal and his gang come from outside of Zootopia, and he makes everyone else in the city look like a _puddle boy_ with the acts of violence he has conducted thus far... It is assumed that it is because he's from outside, and doesn't know the inner working of the city that he doesn't follow even the basic codes of conduct held among dwellers of the deeper sea, but I disagree. I think he's the way he is because he's a mad mammal, and wishes for the world to burn." Aware that Franklin was more tense than before, Nick began to feel uneasy. From his mannerisms, Nick knew that his friend could not be lying; yet the otter spoke vague words only.

"An extremely dangerous mammal in Zootopia? Frankie, who are you talking about?" Nick asked as he lifted his ears sharply. Keeping his silence for a moment, the otter stared at his friend.

"D.O…" the otter replied in sever tone. "D.O. is who I speak of… He is committing crimes that no other big fish in Zootopia would. To start out, his murder count is out of control for just getting here…" As Nick's old-time friend looked away, the fox noticed he started to tremble subtly. "He kills anyone who gets in his way… anyone who he finds out has crossed him... But that's just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what he does." Still trembling, the otter shot his glance back at Nick. "He steals, does hits, and traffics mammals!" Franklin's fists hit the table, startling the Pumas behind him, who tightened the hold they had on their batons. Nick's eyes shot up at them, making the otter realize his sudden outburst was perhaps a bit rash. "Look..." Franklin remarked, as he eased his fists and shoulders. "What matters to me, Wilde, is that you know I got involved in a struggle against this mammal, against my boss' orders, because he started an operation that personally affects me." Perplexed by his friend's vague discourse, Nick's tail began to briskly wave behind him. The fox had tried to gather the bits of information his friend had presented to him in an attempt to make sense of him but felt that he was being lead into further confusion than clarity.

"Hold on, Frankie," Nick interjected, as he shook a paw in front of his old-time friend. "You're getting a bit ahead of yourself…" Putting the paw he shook down, the fox allowed himself a moment to observe his friend and his nervous mannerisms. Franklin's eyes, he noticed, shifted back and forth ever slightly, as if looking for potential danger; also, he breathed irregularly and was still trembling. All these actions indicated that the otter was feeling more anguished as the seconds passed "Can you tell me who this 'D.O.' is?" Again, Franklin hesitated to speak, leaning back on his chair and eyeing the room nervously.

"I… can't," The otter replied. "However, I can tell you two things: One, D.O. is attempting to obtain weapons for the operation I mentioned previously, which is why the Digas were receiving the money in that bag I stole." Leaning forward, Franklin rested his elbows on the table as he fixed his crystal blue eyes on Nick. "And two, if you so wish to know more about this fiasco, I suggest you and _your partner_ talk to my boss. He has far more liberty to tell you what I cannot tell you today." Frowning, Nick's otter friend looked away. "I can't really say much more without endangering my own life more than I already have," the otter said in a sullen voice. "Nick, I'm entrusting this information to you because I know, deep down inside, you're still the fox I met fifteen years ago. But aside from you, I can't trust anyone..." Shooting his glance over to the two-way mirror, he added "not even those working for the law." Nick felt his shoulders contract as Franklin panned his glance back to him. For a moment, the two were in an uncomfortable silence.

"Frankie, your accusations are pretty big," Officer Wilde remarked, keeping his eyes locked on his friend's. "I know for a fact that many of the mammals working here are good and honest."

"Yeah?" Franklin asked rhetorically. "Well, I'm sure you also know what money leads some to do. Nick, heed my warning… if you decide to get involved in this case, be wary of who you trust..." The fox lifted an eyebrow. Again, Nick's old friend had spoken vague words that hinted at uncertain truths, and this harried the officer. Clearly, Franklin was facing severe dangers, that much Nick knew; but if only the otter would be willing to share a little more information, the fox could do a far better job at helping his friend with the ' _hell_ 'he faced.

"Are you sure you can't give me a little more to go by, Frank?" Nick asked in a worried tone as he prayed that his friend would comply. Again, the room got quiet.

"Drake Olden..." Franklin replied, after taking a long breath. "That's the name he's taken on… this D.O. fella'." Sitting up straight, Franklin removed his paws from the table, and placed them on his lap as he began to shake his head. "I'm sorry to do this, Nick…" the otter said in a mellow voice. "But we're done here… if you wish to ask me anything else, I'm going to need an attorney."

* * *

 **A/N: Alas! I have taken enough time out of my busy, college life so as to get this puppy done! Yay!**

 **Sorry for the long delay, guys. I have truly been very busy in the last few weeks with college. School has made it hard for me to complete and edit this chapter, but now that this is out, I hope you enjoy it tenfold -because I sure enjoyed making it-.**

 **I want to thank my beta readers for being so dedicated and patient with me. Without you guys, this project would not be possible.**

 **A special thanks to the following, kick-ass people:**

 **\- Tumblr's Vetinarini, for the wonderful feedback she provided regarding the narrative of the chapter, catching a few of my dumb typos, and for complimenting me on my writing style. (D'aawww, thanks!)**

 **\- Reddit user eisbaerBorealis, for his mad ability to catch my typos and mistakes, as well as for providing feedback for my narrative.**

 **\- John Olsen, for giving me feedback in regards to the story, even when he was on the verge of going on a trip.**

- **DevianArt's AIMYY, for catching some typos, and being a really good friend in general. Thanks!**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you think of the chapter. I'd love to hear what you have to say. :D**

 **Please comment.**

 **Thankies!**

 **P.S.: Yes, I know Nick can act like an immature goofball at times. He's just that way.**


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